


Interuniversal Shift

by PurpleFunkyDishwasher



Category: Groove Crusaders - TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Song), Starlight Brigade - TWRP ft. Dan Avidan (Music Video), TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Brigade Verse, Crusader Verse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21629323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleFunkyDishwasher/pseuds/PurpleFunkyDishwasher
Summary: After encountering an unknown entity, the Starlight Brigade find themselves in the universe of their Groove Crusader counterparts. Together, they must find a way to reverse the interuniversal shift.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 40





	1. Aspire

Hollow.

They were not accustomed to this feeling, but it felt like everything had been taken out of them. The passion. The burning light. Everything they had ever felt, gone.

It was not natural.

They opened their eyes slowly, only to be greeted with…

Nothing.

Not quite like the feeling inside. Something different. Darkness. It surrounded them, threatening to consume them whole. They had known darkness before.

This shouldn’t have been any different, but they could feel something watching.

Something beyond it all.

They turned their gaze upwards. There had to be something other than this. Darkness did not exist without a cause.

And sure enough, two great, glowing eyes - each one bigger than their entire body - opened up. The pupils came to rest on them.

A shiver shot down their spine. Despite the darkness, they could see that the owner of these eyes was inhuman.

_Run._

A great grin with sharpened teeth spread through the darkness, and a grey mist began to rise up.

_Save yourself._

A taloned hand reached out for them. How they wanted to turn, to move any of the muscles in their body. They wanted to lift their feet and run in the opposite direction, to listen to the voice in their head which knew the right thing to do.

Yet they stood, feet glued to the ground.

And how they wanted to scream out, to shout for help. Someone would help them. Someone would always come to their aid.

But no sound left their mouth.

The hand reached closer and closer, until it began to wrap around their body, and-

-Strive jerked up, gasping for air as though they’d been submerged for too long. A cool sweat dripped down their face.

They looked around. The darkness was gone, and in its place was the same mothership they’d grown accustomed to. There was no inhuman eyes or sharp-toothed grin or taloned hand. Just them, their bed, and the rest of their possessions.

Strive covered their face with their hands and took a few deep breaths.

 _It was just a dream._ _Get out of bed - the others will be waiting._

Sure enough, when Strive entered the dining hall, the four they’d expected to see were already present.

The area they knew as the “dining hall” was less a hall and more an adequately-sized room, big enough for no more than fifteen - at most, they estimated - participants. They rarely ever saw more than five people in the room at once, and had begun to feel like the insistence on calling it a dining hall was a harmless joke at their expense.

‘Strive!’ beamed Sung, who waved them over like they might miss him in the non-existent crowd of people if he didn’t. ‘You’re awake. Come join us.’

Strive - who was still barely awake and had done little more than splash some water on their face and get dressed - managed a half-smile. ‘Did I sleep in?’ They took the empty seat next to Havve who, naturally, was the only one without a plate of food to himself.

Sung opened his mouth to speak, only to have the Commander interject. ‘Nobody else would call that oversleeping. But for you-’

Lord Phobos drew attention to himself. They all looked over - except Meouch, who was too busy analysing (or perhaps it was closer to a criticism) Strive’s potentially unhealthy sleeping habits.

 **Sleep well?** Phobos signed.

Havve put a hand on Strive’s shoulder and, when they looked up, tilted his head slightly.

‘They’re right,’ said Sung. ‘You don’t look too good.’

‘I’m…’ Strive broke the eye contact with Havve, looking down instead to their own plate which had been lovingly (or, judging by the way the food looked to have been thrown onto the plate with no care whatsoever, not so much) laid out for them. ‘I’m fine. I just had a nightmare, nothing to worry about.’

Hesitantly, Havve’s hand came away from Strive’s shoulder. They weren’t the best actor, this much was already known. The others also knew that if Strive said something was alright, it would be best to let them confess the truth in their own time.

‘Well, you’re just in time,’ Sung said slowly, ‘Phobos was just about to tell us about the time he single-handedly took down a colony of deadly gamma toads.’

**I did no such thing.**

‘Yes you did.’

‘No he didn’t,’ Meouch replied matter-of-factly, ‘because they were deadly gamma _frogs_.’

**When did I fight gamma amphibians?**

‘It’s your story, you tell us.’

‘Do gamma amphibians exist?’ Strive asked, their usual penchant for curiosity missing. They stabbed their fork into their food.

‘No, because they’d be called _gammaphibians_.’

**They don’t exist, Strive.**

‘Hey, I’ve fought a gammaphibian or two in my lifetime.’

Strive lifted the food to their mouth.

**When?**

‘Why, just last month I- you _know_ they exist Havve. Don’t tell me they don’t, you were there-’

The siren sounded, the flashing red light filling every corner of their vision.

‘We can finish this later,’ Sung said, already halfway out of his seat. ‘Come on.’

The four rushed out of the room, leaving Strive alone.

They sighed as they looked at the still full plate of food, and got out of their chair.

‘But we always know what we’re going against.’ Strive had only just entered the room, but Sung’s words didn’t fill them with confidence.

‘Then this’ll all be new to you,’ replied the strategist. Strive walked up to the table, squeezing past Phobos and Havve to get a look at the hologram. ‘Just do what you always do.’

Strive felt their stomach drop.

‘I’ll relay any new information to your ships. Reports say this has been growing for hours - we can’t just let it go until we have a foolproof plan.’

It was an orb of darkness, though it was not solid in its shape; the darkness twisted and turned, as though trying to morph into something else. And around it rose what appeared to be some kind of thick fog.

‘I don’t think this is a good idea,’ Strive piped up. ‘What if something goes wrong?’

‘C’mon,’ said Meouch as he, Sung, and Havve began to leave the room. ‘This’ll be no different to anything else we’ve faced. Go out, blow it up, come back in time for dinner.’

The door slid shut after them as they left.

Strive looked up at Phobos, who had stayed behind. ‘You agree with me, don’t you?’

Phobos said nothing, opting instead to give Strive a vague thumbs up, before motioning for the two to leave the room.

‘How are we all looking?’

Strive closed their eyes, and took a deep breath.

They knew this level of wariness wasn’t like them. Never had they questioned one of their missions, and they were usually so eager to rush in.

‘Strive?’

Had it not been for that dream, today would be like any other day.

‘Strive.’

They opened their eyes and looked over to see Doctor Sung in his own ship, looking over. He smiled as he got their attention.

His voice sounded over the comms channel. ‘Great, you’re still with us. Alright then, Starlight Brigade, let’s take off.’

_This will be like any other mission._

Engines flared to life.

_Just like the Commander said - go out, blow it up, come back in time for dinner._

The ships took off in near unison into the starry expanse of space, thrusting them towards the unknown.

It was worse than any of them could have thought.

In the time it took them to reach the threat, it had grown larger than the hologram’s scale had shown. It was larger than a medium-sized planet, the mist blocking out the light of the surrounding stars.

All ships came to a halt - maybe they’d all had the same realisation.

Meouch’s voice came in through a growl over the comms.

‘ _Fire!_ ’

Guns blazing, all aimed for the dark orb. The faster they could get rid of this thing, the better.

_Strive._

‘Get in closer!’

They ignored the voice in their head - no matter how strange - and opted instead to listen to Meouch.

_Strive..._

‘But don’t be rash,’ chimed in Sung. ‘We still don’t know what we’re up against.’

_Hear my voice._

_What is that?_

They came in closer to their enemy, weapons still firing.

_Ah, so you can hear me._

But there were no explosions, no recoiling from the orb, no sign whatsoever that their lasers were coming into contact with their enemy.

_Who are you? What are you doing in my head?_

A video image of the strategist appeared. ‘Your weapons don’t appear to be doing any damage,’ he said. ‘Fall back - we need to come up with a different approach.’

_No, Strive._

The ships turned around.

_Come to me._

_Why would I listen to a voice in my head?_

_Because you have no choice._

The other ships began to head back.

_I can make my own choices. You’re not one of them._

Strive began to follow the others.

_Don’t you want to be a hero?_

The ship stopped.

_Don’t you want them to admire you?_

_I don’t do this for admiration._

_Then for what?_

_To protect others._

_Then - don’t you want to protect them?_

Strive turned their ship around.

_I can take it all away from you, Strive. Doctor Sung. Commander Meouch. Lord Phobos. Havve Hogan. In mere hours they will be gone, because you couldn’t protect them._

‘Strive,’ they heard Sung say. ‘Come on, we have our orders.’ But they paid it little attention.

_They’ll die, and it’ll all be your fault._

‘I won’t let you hurt them.’

‘What?’

_Prove it._

Strive’s engines flared to life.

‘I won’t let you take my friends!’

The ship screamed towards the orb.

‘What are you doing?’ shouted Meouch. ‘Turn back!’

There was no turning back.

The orb grew closer and closer.

Strive’s ship began to shake.

The mist reached out.

‘Strive,’ came Sung’s panicked voice. ‘You have to-’

Comms shut down.

The orb stretched towards them.

Darkness began to surround them, but they didn’t slow down.

And it closed in around them, swallowing them whole.

‘Strive!’ Sung pressed buttons and turned dials, trying to tune back into Strive’s channel. ‘We have to go in after them.’

‘That’d be suicide, Doc,’ Meouch warned. ‘We have to leave them.’

‘We don’t leave anybody behind.’

Sung turned his ship around, blasting towards the orb.

‘Damn it,’ Meouch growled, following behind him.

Phobos and Havve shared a look, and knew they had little choice but to go after them.

And just as it had Strive, the orb opened up once more - their friend nowhere to be seen - and took in the four remaining members of the Starlight Brigade.


	2. Awaken

_ Thwack. _

Doctor Sung was thrown backwards from the impact. He landed without grace, falling on his side.

‘Doc!’ called the Commander.

‘I’m okay,’ came Sung’s reply. He was already picking himself up off the ground.

The shadows - as that’s what they seemed to be, much too thick to be a fog yet holding similar qualities, formed into tendril-like extensions to cause damage - retreated.

Sung stepped back towards the synthesiser.

All eyes came to rest upon the hater again - and what a sad sight it was to see.

They had met her mere minutes ago, doing her best to smile albeit being lost in a quadrant unfamiliar to her. Trying to escape her troubles, she’d said with ease - the difficult part was getting her to elaborate. But when she did, it all came out.

Friends.

Family.

Boyfriends.

Girlfriends.

Nothing felt like it was going right in her life, and she wanted to escape it all. Begin anew. Get rid of everyone  _ and everything she despised so much, start afresh, change everything, destroy it all- _

That’s when the darkness had begun to rise up out of her. And they tried to stop it from spreading, but she was too far gone.

She stood before them now, a danger to herself, to them, to anyone who may have thought about coming to the desolate planet. The hatred consumed her, and threatened to tear everything apart.

Her posture was rigid.

Expression, full of anger and pain.

Yet beneath it all they could see the same young woman who had approached them earlier, full of fear and confusion.

‘That approach didn’t work.’

‘ _ Get away from me! _ ’ she screamed, piercing their ears with a scream akin to a banshee.

‘Guess we’ll just have to try something else.’

Havve’s drumsticks tapped together.

_ One-two-three-four- _

A different song. Something  _ calmer _ . The same energy they always carried, but some people needed something a little different. And the something different seemed to be working.

Hatred drifted from her body like smoke from a fire, up into the atmosphere and into the expanse of space above.

The hatred would not possess another; her troubles were hers, and hers alone. They would not return.

And once all was said and done she stood there, dazed, looking at the four of them.

‘What just happened?’ she asked.

**You were possessed by hatred,** signed Phobos.

‘Hatred?’

‘It takes over,’ explained Meouch, ‘and makes you lose sight of everything. You won’t stop until you’ve done everything the hatred subconsciously wants.’

‘It’s gone now,’ said Sung. ‘It won’t come back. How are you feeling?’

‘Better. Like… like I want to go back home.’

‘We’ll get you back safely.’

‘I have a question, though.’

‘Go for it.’

‘If the hatred won’t let you stop until you do what it wants, how did you make it go away?’

‘Simple,’ Sung smiled, ‘we’re Groove Crusaders.’

Sung winced as pain shot through his head. His hand came up to the area.

Lord Phobos tapped Sung.

**You okay, Doc?**

‘I just had the weirdest feeling. Like…’ He looked up. All eyes were on him. ‘Nah, I’m fine.’

‘This isn’t the time to be worrying,’ said Meouch. ‘This is a celebration. We can worry later.’

**Some celebration.**

‘Hey, a diner can be a celebration - and it’s a damn good one, too. You have a better idea?’

Phobos held his hands up, ready to sign, but hesitated.

**Just pass the fries.**

Meouch smiled smugly and passed over the basket. ‘You know I’m right.’

Sung looked out the window to what could only be best described as a wasteland. Water laid stagnant. Plants did not flower or bear fruit, and animals did whatever they needed to survive. They had been to so many other planets which were easily more beautiful than this.

But through thick and thin, it was their home.

A pair of eyes bore into him. Sung turned his head to across the table where, sure enough, Havve was staring him down.

‘It’s nothing to worry about - probably just an injury. You saw how badly I was knocked around.’

_ See someone. _

‘Nothing’s broken - besides, this is a celebration, remember? I don’t want to ruin this for everyone.’

‘Two against one, Phobos.’

**Shut up - I didn’t say it wasn’t a celebration.**

Before Phobos could dip his hand back into the basket, Meouch snatched it away and slid it over to Sung.

**I wasn’t finished with that.**

‘You’ve had enough. Let Sung have some.’

‘No - Phobos, if you want-’

‘Don’t let Phobos be a hog. You haven’t had anything yet.’

Almost reluctantly, Sung took one of the fries.

**Anyway, I was about to tell you guys about the gamma amphibians.**

Meouch snorted as he tried to hold back a laugh. ‘Gamma amphibians? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard. Fucking… Gamma amphibians?’

‘The Commander’s right. I would’ve called them, uh,  _ gammaphibians _ .’

‘Not you too, Doc - they don’t exist!’

**Not anymore they don’t, because I single-handedly took them all down.**

‘That’s bull. You’re making shit up, trying to impress us.’

**That’s laughable. Impress Sung and Havve maybe, but you…**

‘Watch your mouth,’ Meouch growled.

Phobos smirked.

**I didn’t say a word.**

Meouch opened his mouth to argue, only to promptly close it again - Phobos was right, after all. He crossed his arms and looked out the window, almost pouting - as much as a lion possibly could. ‘This is bullshit.’

Phobos’ smile grew, and he turned his attention to Sung and Havve.  **Anyway, have you ever seen a gamma amphibian before? They’re big - bigger than most people would be able to handle.**

‘And you’re not most people, are you?’ asked Sung.

Phobos shook his head.

Havve watched intently.

‘Tell us about them.’

**The big ones are twelve feet tall, and-**

‘What the-’

‘Yeah,’ agreed Sung, almost sounding impressed, ‘that’s pretty big. You coming around on the gammaphibians, Meouch?’

‘No-’ Meouch was almost standing out of his seat, ‘-what the hell is that?’

He pointed into the sky, from which hurtled an unknown object. The four could only watch, three with mouths agape, as it approached the ground at terrifying speeds.

A deafening  _ BANG _ rang out as it smashed into the ground, sending a rattling earthquake through the diner.

Sung stood when the quakes finally subsided. ‘We have to check that out, right?’ The others nodded, and they moved out.

The wreckage sent a thick smoke into the air. A crater had formed in its wake, in which they found a ship.

‘Oh god.’ Sung slid down the edge of the crater. ‘You don’t think anybody’s in there, do you?’ The others followed suit. ‘Help me out? There’s gotta be an emergency release somewhere-’

A  _ click _ came from the ship and air wooshed out, accompanied by Phobos popping his head up from behind the vehicle and giving a thumbs up.

They didn’t know what to expect - they were familiar with the expanses of the galaxy, and they knew of all kinds of friends and terrors that existed.

And, of all things that could have been in the ship, the youngster made them breathe an internal sigh of relief.

‘Hey.’ Sung gripped their arm, shaking them gently. ‘Are you okay? Wake up.’

Nothing.

‘You’ve gotta be rougher than that,’ said Meouch.

Havve approached.

‘They just fell out of the sky - you want to kill them?’

‘You really think they’re still alive after that?’

He gripped them by the shoulders.

‘Everything’s still in tact, it’s too soon to say.’

‘Did you check their vitals?’

And Havve started shaking the stranger from space.  _ Violently. _

‘That wasn’t the first thought-’ Sung’s attention turned back to the stranger. ‘Oh god - Havve, you can’t do that!’

Meouch laughed. ‘He gets it.’

‘This isn’t funny!’ exclaimed Sung as he tried to remove Havve’s grip, with little success. ‘Can I get some help?’

Phobos got to the other side of Havve, while Meouch stood on the sidelines, barely trying to contain his laughter.

Together, Sung and Phobos managed to pull Havve away, throwing the stranger back against their seat.

**That’s not how you wake someone up!** Phobos shouted.

But Havve didn’t notice, as his eyes were still on the stranger, whose eyes had begun to open.

And he looked over to Phobos with his head tilted to the side, smugly.


	3. Differentiate

Strive’s eyes opened, the world around them a blur. Shadows closed off the sun that would otherwise shine down upon them.

Colours - red, grey, yellow. Familiarity.

‘Lord Phobos,’ they said softly. ‘You all came for me.’

**I don’t know you.**

‘I don’t know what you just said.’ They tried to push out of their seat. ‘My sight’s a little-’ They fell back into their chair with a grunt.

‘Take it easy,’ warned Sung, reaching out for them.

‘You remember anything?’ Meouch asked as he stepped forward. Sung, getting his arm beneath Strive’s arms, helped them out of the ship.

‘I remember all of you.’ Strive rubbed their eyes, blinked a few times, to find their vision back to normal - more or less. ‘Except…’ their gaze settled on the robot. ‘You’re not Havve.’

The robot looked taken aback; despite his inability to show emotion, the glare he gave Strive portrayed such feelings perfectly.

‘That is definitely Havve,’ Sung denied. ‘I’ve known this guy for years, and he’s been Havve the whole time.’

‘No,’ Strive insisted. They pushed away from Sung, who held his arms out for a brief moment in case they stumbled back. Slowly but surely, Strive made their way over to Havve, hands coming to rest on his metal frame like a blind man trying to identify an object. ‘You can’t be - you’re smaller, and Havve has more arms.’

Havve looked down - whether upset about this lesser form of himself or to simply look down upon the annoying fly which was Strive couldn’t be said for certain.

‘So you know us,’ said Meouch.

‘More or less,’ interjected Sung. Strive turned from Havve, still using his body for support.

‘But we still don’t know you. You got a name?’

‘What are you talking about?’ they asked, looking around to Sung, Meouch, and Phobos. ‘Is this one of those tests to make sure my brain didn’t get damaged? I’m Strive, we’re the Starlight Brigade, and this isn’t Havve - or you’ve stripped him down to test me.’

They all exchanged a look; Meouch furrowed his brow, Sung pursed his lips together, while Havve tilted his head and Phobos gently placed his hands together, ready to sign.

**Starlight Brigade?**

As though on cue, four ships materialised into the sky - doing little more than a little  _ blip _ into existence. They drifted down to the ground in a manner that was graceful compared to Strive’s crash landing.

All eyes came to the ships, which opened up and revealed faces which were familiar to them - to  _ all _ of them.

‘What the hell were you thinking?’ Meouch growled as he - along with Phobos and Havve - followed behind Sung. ‘That could have been a death trap!’

‘There was no obligation to follow. But look, we’re here! And so is-’

All stopped dead in their tracks.

Sung looked at Sung.

Meouch looked at Meouch.

Phobos at Phobos.

Havve at his more impressive looking counterpart.

‘-all of us.’

Strive looked around, trying to get their head around the situation. Those four were  _ definitely _ the Starlight Brigade, but these four were  _ also _ definitely the Starlight Brigade, just a little… different.

‘What’s… going on?’

‘Oh, I think I’ve heard of this!’ exclaimed both Sungs, almost in unison and much too enthusiastically.

‘Do you wanna explain it?’

‘Well, only if you don’t wanna.’

‘I’d be happy to.’

This entire exchange - which continued on and on - was punctuated with the others watching back and forth like a semi-interesting game of tennis.

‘Well somebody has to tell us,’ interrupted one of the Meouches, beginning to lose his cool.

‘Alright,’ said the Sung from the ship finally, clapping his hands together. ‘It’s a theory - and just a theory! - that is being called an interuniversal shift.’

**So we’ve jumped from one universe to another?** questioned the Phobos from the ships.

‘That’s the simple way of putting it,’ said this universe’s Sung.

‘Not many people have encountered an interuniversal shift before. Even fewer have come back from it. The supposed science behind it is, the person comes into contact with a massive amount of… I guess we could call them atoms.’

‘I’ve heard cross particles.’

‘Okay, let’s call them cross particles. So they come into contact with all these cross particles, which can exist in two different universes at once. It could have been a coincidence, but that thing we saw might have contained enough cross particles to bring us to this universe.’

‘So it brought you all here?’ asked the universe’s Meouch.

‘I assume that much was luck. There’s an endless amount of possible universes - I think we’re lucky to find one that’s not only inhabited, but inhabited by other forms of ourselves.’

The bigger Havve looked at Sung.

‘How we get back is… another question. There’s no telling where that many cross particles might exist, if there even are any in this universe.’

‘That thing you mentioned,’ began the other Sung, ‘if it contained enough cross particles to get you all here, then it might have more - maybe it’d have enough to shift back into your universe.’

‘I don’t know what the chances of that are - I was surprised to see Strive vanish, let alone for it to bring us all here.’

‘It’s worth a shot though, right? What was the thing you saw?’

‘It was bigger than a planet,’ Strive piped up. ‘And dark… even compared to space. Misty as well - that was dark, too. And it…’

_ And it spoke to me. _

The four who were new to Strive all stared at them, three with incredulous looks.

**Oblivion?**

‘That’s what it sounds like,’ said Meouch.

‘What’s Oblivion?’ asked Sung.

**You haven’t heard of Oblivion?**

‘Are we meant to know already?’ questioned the other Meouch.

‘You’re the same as us, right?’ the universe’s Sung questioned. ‘Then surely you’d know about it already.’

‘This is the first time we’ve heard about it,’ replied the other Sung. ‘We might essentially be the same people, but I guess we fight our own battles.’

‘We suspect Oblivion is the source of all hatred.’

**But hatred is an emotion. It’s natural,** the ship’s Phobos suggested.

‘It takes hatred,’ replied the universe’s Meouch, ‘and spits it back out.’

‘Like a tree with oxygen,’ agreed Sung. ‘But instead of helping keep us alive, it’s trying to kill us.’

**We’re trying to destroy it. We’ll be able to bring love back if we do.**

‘Love?’ questioned the other Meouch. ‘Each to their own, I guess.’

‘Well, what do you guys do?’ Sung asked.

‘A similar goal, but Meouch is right, we wouldn’t have called it love. It’s our duty to eliminate the evil from the universe.’ The bigger Havve looked at his Sung. ‘Yeah -  _ our _ universe. Which… it doesn’t seem likely we’ll get back.’

‘Hold on, this might just work out,’ the universe’s Sung mused. ‘If you help us destroy Oblivion, we might just be able to help you get back to your own universe.’

‘Do you think it could work?’

‘There’s research to be done, but I don’t see why not.’

‘Alright!’ beamed the other Sung. ‘We’ve got ourselves a deal.’

In the brief silence that followed, they could all hear a low rumbling. They looked back to the source of the sound to see Strive, looking awfully embarrassed about their bodily autonomy.

‘Sorry,’ they apologised meekly. ‘I didn’t get to eat this morning.’

‘I’ll take you over to the diner,’ said the universe’s Meouch. ‘It’s on me.’

**You’re not just going to give them our leftovers, are you?**

‘Hey,’ Meouch snapped. ‘You think I don’t have any pride?’

Phobos didn’t respond. They both already knew his answer.

Meouch turned back to Strive. ‘C’mon, kid.’

He turned his back to the group, only to feel a small tap on his arm a moment later. Much to his surprise, when he looked with his head over his shoulder, the other Phobos was standing there.

**I’m coming with you.**

‘You’ll be more help to the others.’

**I want to ensure Strive’s safety. They could use a familiar face.**

Meouch laughed. ‘I might be a bit different, but you think I wouldn’t be a familiar face? Trust me, nothing’s gonna happen at that diner.’

‘I wouldn’t mind Lord Phobos being there,’ said Strive. ‘I think he can come along, if he wants to.’

Meouch huffed. ‘Alright. C’mon.’

‘Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we split up,’ the universe’s Sung suggested as the three walked away.

‘We could do more research into the interuniversal shifts,’ replied the other.

The two Havves looked at each other, and that’s all they needed before they went waltzing off into the wilds.

‘I wouldn’t trust those two together.’ Sung turned to the remaining Meouch and Phobos pair. ‘Meouch and Phobos - could you make sure they don’t get into any trouble?’

‘Right.’

Phobos looked at Meouch, who was already heading off, and back to the Sungs.

**I’d rather stay with you two.**

‘I trust in the abilities of every possible version of Meouch, but two Havves would mean more trouble than one person could handle.’

Phobos rolled his eyes, jogging off to catch up with Meouch.

‘Now!’ Sung turned back to his duplicate. ‘Where’s the best place to learn about a theory like interuniversal shifts?’

‘Why,’ began the second Sung, ‘where else but the book depository?’


	4. Growth

‘Here.’ Meouch dragged the basket of fries over to Strive. The basket was less than half full, not to mention limp and not billowing with freshness. Other foodstuffs littered the table, but they weren’t brave enough to touch even the ones they did recognise. ‘They’re probably cold - I can buy you something else if you don’t want ‘em.’

Strive put their hand into the bowl. He was right; they  _ were _ cold, and a little bit soggy to boot.

**Wait until I tell the other me,** Phobos said with a smile.

‘You won’t tell him anything,’ Meouch growled.

They grabbed a fistful of the fried potato and almost threw it into their mouth.

Both looked at Strive with shock.

‘I’m really hungry,’ they managed through their mouthful of food.

Meouch laughed. ‘Haven’t seen anyone eat like that in a long time.’

**You must be a lot different from our Commander. The way I’ve seen him eat…**

‘You heard what the Doc said,’ he retaliated. ‘We might be similar but we’re still different.’

**You just said it yourself - we do share similarities. I might not have known him for very long but I still see myself in the Phobos from this universe.**

‘That doesn’t mean anything.’

**Despite what you say, you must see it in yourself and our Meouch, too.**

Meouch focused his attention back on Strive. ‘How’re you liking our universe so far?’

Strive, who had just shoved more fries into their mouth, replied, ‘Food’s good.’

Meouch smiled. ‘I feel it’s pretty standard. Between you and me,’ Meouch’s voice came down to a whisper, ‘there’s a better place on the other side of the planet.’

‘Then why don’t we go there?’

‘Well, it was Havve’s turn to choose, and-’

‘Does…’ Strive looked between Meouch and Phobos. ‘Does Havve eat?’

‘That’s what I said!  _ Bloody robot doesn’t even eat _ ! But we all have to choose so it’s  _ equal _ and we can’t leave him out of it, and I guess the guy already knew this place. Same chain as the other one, so at least you know what you’re getting.’

**Can I try it?**

Strive nodded, passing the basket over to Phobos. ‘Oh, there’s not much left, though.’

For Strive had already shovelled almost everything worth eating into their mouth, leaving only a few small chips and crumbs at the bottom.

Phobos picked one up and put it in his mouth. As he considered the flavour, he got ready to sign.

**They don’t taste very good.**

‘Our Phobos couldn’t stop.’ Meouch smirked, feeling his point having been adequately proven. ‘Anyway - how do you feel, other than the food?’

‘It’s…’ Strive looked out the window, ‘bleak. I wouldn’t have thought this place was populated.’

‘Hey!’ Meouch slammed a paw down on the table. Both Strive and Phobos jumped. ‘Despite what it’s become, Ladyworld is  _ still _ a beautiful planet!’

Phobos furrowed his brow.  **Ladyworld?** He looked out the window.

‘Did I stutter?’

**But Ladyworld is my home too, and it’s more lush and beautiful than this planet.**

‘ _ Don’t _ insult Ladyworld.’ He took a moment to compose himself. ‘I remember the time when it  _ was _ lush and beautiful.’

‘What happened?’

‘The  _ haters _ happened.’

***

‘I trusted you.’

‘I need your help - just one more time.’

‘What you’ve done is unforgivable. Do you really expect me to get you out of _this_?’

‘Come on, you’ve done it before-’

‘You - nor anybody I’ve known, in the known history of our planet, has done anything so atrocious. You  _ deserve _ whatever happens to you.’

A run in with authorities that turned deadly.

The anger of the betrayed growing as more blood was shed.

A force that couldn’t be stopped, until few were left.

The feeling of betrayal became a lust for revenge.

It became a game of cat and mouse throughout the galaxy, the criminal avoiding their  _ friend _ at every twist and turn, almost seeming to revel in the anger.

This game, it is believed, is when the hatred was born.

But over time the game became less fun and more of an annoyance, stopping the criminal from doing as they pleased. And like a bug that just won’t go away, the criminal knew it had to be eliminated.

And hatred bloomed.

After many weeks their game came to a conclusion on Ladyworld, where they knew that one of them would perish.

Punches were thrown, bruises coming in purple.

Hatred seeped from them.

Bloodied cuts, which seemed to never stop weeping.

It covered the planet like fog over fields on a cold morning.

And a moment with weapons pointed at each other, where they knew it was the end.

The planet - its plants, its people, even the rivals - were suffering. Life slowly drained away from everything.

They were ready to end it all, when one with great courage intervened.

And while they were shown the error of their ways, the hatred hadn’t been allowed to escape in a natural way, and so instead escaped into the atmosphere.

With such strong feelings combined, it was allowed to grow, to manifest into something more.

To become Oblivion.

***

**I feel like I’ve heard a similar story.**

‘Of course you would,’ said Meouch as though deeply offended, as though he’d been interrupted. ‘We have similar people - why wouldn’t we have similar stories?’

‘So that’s how Oblivion came into existence?’ asked Strive.

Meouch nodded. ‘It came from the universe’s biggest haters, which is why it grew so big, and so quickly. It keeps growing, taking hate from others and redistributing it. But we’re gonna fu-’ remembering the company he was in - Strive, mostly, and not so much Phobos - Meouch quickly corrected himself, ‘we’re gonna take it down - that’s what the Groove Crusaders are for!’

**But how can you take down the hatred if it’s going to keep redistributing itself?**

‘How would we do it?’ he scoffed. ‘With music! How else would we do it?’

‘You can destroy the hatred with music?’

‘We can’t destroy it yet, but we can remove it from people. Our power is strong enough - we just need to find a way to amplify it to be destructive.’

Strive turned to Phobos. ‘Do you think we can help with that?’

**We’re fighters, not musicians. But…** Phobos paused.  **You have the music, and we have the technology. Surely we can figure something out.**

‘We’d better,’ said Meouch. ‘What other choice do we have?’

**But if we’re going to work together, there’s one condition.**

Meouch eyed Phobos off. ‘What is it?’

**I understand why you’re treating me the way you do - you’re not subtle about it. I don’t know how yourself and the Phobos from your universe get along, but our Commander and I have moved on. At least, more than you seem to. I hold little resentment towards you. We need to be able to cooperate.**

‘Hm.’ Meouch didn’t look too pleased about this - but the cogs in his head were moving, for sure. ‘How do you feel about gamma amphibians?’

Phobos rolled his eyes.  **Not too strongly.**

Meouch laughed, and began to realise that he and this Phobos weren’t so different after all.


	5. Progress

The library - or  _ book depository _ , as Crusader Sung had called it previously - looked like it had once been a very sterile place, but a wave of disaster had left it in a state of near ruin.

Walls were scuffed with dark marks. Books - which went on for as far as the eye could see - appeared to be arranged in no particular order aside from “fiction” and “non-fiction”. From the distant reaches of the building, a man’s cough echoed.

The two Sungs located an empty table - in the vast sea which was tables that were unoccupied - and took a seat.

‘Okay,’ said Crusader Sung, ‘let’s start at the very beginning. What were you doing when you encountered the shift?’

‘We’d been sent out on a mission,’ explained Brigade Sung, ‘I guess, now that we have more information, to destroy Oblivion. We were firing at it as we would anything else, but the usual methods weren’t working, so we received the command to return to the mothership.’ Crusader Sung pulled over a piece of paper and a pen, and began to draw up a mindmap. ‘But Strive wouldn’t obey the command. Instead they charged full speed towards it - that’s when we encountered the shift. It swallowed Strive, and I knew we couldn’t leave them behind.’

‘And you all came into direct contact with Oblivion?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Then we can assume-’ he connected two points on the map, ‘-that Oblivion and the shifts are connected.’

Brigade Sung took another pen. ‘Has there been other instances of the shift occurring after encountering Oblivion?’

‘Nobody’s ever been close enough.’

He scribbled out the note. ‘Then there’s not enough evidence to say for sure.’

‘But,’ Crusader Sung insisted, drawing another line out from the centre, ‘it’s true that Oblivion must contain a high density of cross particles.’

Another line. More words. ‘Or is it just that the space Oblivion was inhabiting contained those particles?’

‘It’s a possibility, but what are the chances? None of us have encountered an interuniversal shift before, and surely you’ve travelled an amount of the universe to rival the Starlight Brigade. You must know how few cross particles there must be in the universe. The chances of Oblivion inhabiting that very space are slim.’

‘But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Besides, Oblivion doesn’t exist in your universe - not as far as we know. It could have used those particles to travel. We don’t know how Oblivion moves, so-’

‘Could it revolve like a planet? It was larger than one.’

‘We believe that Oblivion is its own entity. It’s not necessarily alive, but it has some kind of sentience.’

‘Then it would move by itself. Could it have known where the particles were?’

‘How could it?’ Crusader Sung drew another line. ‘Nobody could begin to- we’re out of room.’

Sure enough, the paper was full of “ideas”. Lines crossed over, wavered to sides, words written almost on top of each other in an effort to create more room on the page. Ideas one Sung didn’t agree with crossed out, ideas the other was adamant in keeping scribbled again.

‘Okay,’ sighed Brigade Sung, looking over the paper. ‘What have we got?’

‘Well…’ Crusader Sung picked the sheet up. ‘We know that Oblivion may or may not have sentience.’

‘That’s all?’ Crusader Sung nodded. ‘We can’t return to them with that. We’ll need to start again. Let me ask you the question this time - how do you - the Groove Crusaders, as a group - plan on stopping Oblivion?’

‘With music.’

Brigade Sung arched a brow. ‘Music - you’re sure it’d work?’

Crusader Sung shrugged. ‘It works on the haters.’

‘But Oblivion isn’t-’ Brigade Sung sighed. ‘Alright, we’re getting sidetracked. Maybe we should assume that Oblivion and the shifts are directly connected until we can draw further conclusions - we can always change our theories if they’re proven wrong.’

Crusader Sung hesitated. ‘Alright. So if Oblivion does contain the cross particles, what will happen if we destroy it?’

‘One of two things, potentially - the particles would be freed, or completely vaporised.’

‘Let’s assume that the particles would be freed. The power of our music is, admittedly, not strong enough to destroy Oblivion yet. But if we were to amplify it-’

‘-then we’d be able to get home, while helping you with your goal.’

‘Exactly!’

‘But if the particles were destroyed, we’d be stuck here forever.’

‘Alternatively, our universe wouldn’t come to an end - which is a very real, very big threat to us. One way or another, things will work out for the better. Wouldn’t you agree?’

‘You know the answer to that.’ Brigade Sung stood. ‘Okay, I think we can safely take our current findings back to the others.’

‘What findings?’ Crusader Sung laughed, looking at the paper. ‘We barely found  _ anything _ .’


	6. Power

There’s not much to be said between two robots who are the same in every way except physically - but that might be due to their inability to  _ actually _ talk.

This meant that following them from a safe distance - hiding behind objects or otherwise acting nonchalantly - was less of an interesting mission than either Meouch or Phobos could have expected.

‘Their movements are random,’ Meouch whispered. ‘What are they doing?’

**They’re not doing anything,** Phobos observed.  **And they’re not going to do anything. This is pointless - I could have been helping the others.**

‘You guys don’t do Havve-watch?’

**Why would we do that?**

‘Then you don’t know how many times we’ve been able to stop Havve from doing something he shouldn’t.’

**If you mean stopping him from carrying out illegal activities, I don’t think you should be the one on “Havve-watch”.**

‘Let’s not argue about this,’ Meouch warned. ‘It’s more important that we get along and watch for-’ Meouch looked back over to see…

Nobody.

‘Crap,’ he said under his breath. ‘Where’d they go?’

**You should have been watching.**

‘Me?’ Meouch ran out from their cover. ‘You were distracting me!’ Phobos followed.

The two approached a corner.

‘If you hadn’t started debating our mission-’

Meouch came to a halt and held his arm out to stop Phobos in his tracks.

Sure enough, the two Havves were right around the corner, looking like they were… well, looking for something. Or, perhaps, someone - taking advantage of a sun-filled day (as were most days on Ladyworld), adults and children alike enjoyed the presence of a nearby park. Children laughed as they played around the equipment, parents took the chance to relax on park benches, while others found fun in playing with their pets.

‘This isn’t just a walk around town. They’re up to something.’

The smaller Havve, upon his investigation of the area, looked directly towards Meouch and Phobos, red eyes glinting ever brighter.

Meouch and Phobos ducked back around the corner.

**You’re too loud.**

‘I’m being as quiet as I can!’

**He knew we were here.**

‘It could’ve been a coincidence.’

Phobos huffed. He peeked around the corner again, the Havves back to moving and searching.

‘What’re they-’

**Quiet.**

The larger Havve wandered into the park, searching high and low - but mostly high, leaving the low to the smaller. He looked in obvious places - on top of play equipment and low roofs - and some not so obvious - inside the holes of trees, for example.

Havve appeared intent on completing his objective, whatever it may have been, only to be interrupted by a child no older than seven years, distracted while running away from his dog in jest, running right into him with a loud  _ clunk _ .

The child fell to the ground and looked up at the menacing robot with big, watery eyes.

Havve held out a hand, which the teary-eyed child took with abandon.

He would soon realise that was a mistake.

Havve’s eyes burned a deeper red than usual, almost crimson, as his hand tightened around the child’s. The dog came to a stop by the child and growled at Havve.

‘What’re you doing?’ The child sniffled, attempting to tug his hand away from the robot’s grip. ‘Let go.’

No such luck - Havve’s grip only tightened.

The child cried out, the dog barking and snapping at Havve’s ankles.

His attention turned to the small canine and he lifted a foot.

Phobos made to rush out, but Meouch held him back.

‘Look.’

He pointed to the smaller Havve, who was already powering towards the other. This second Havve took an arm of the first, grabbing his attention, and shook his head.

The bigger Havve stayed motionless, hand still threatening to crunch the bones of the crying child and foot ready to squash the pest of a dog, as he looked the smaller in the eyes; supposedly, a silent conversation.

And then he let go of the child and put his foot back down. The two ran off while the Havves continued staring.

**Maybe they’re not as bad for each other as Sung thought.**

The larger one then pointed to the distance, and they continued on.

‘They’ve gotta be up to something now.’ Phobos nodded, and both followed silently.

Their journey, despite being safe, was filled with walking and either Havve randomly stopping for whatever reason a robot may have to stop so suddenly (thus the other stopping too) before continuing on as he had been before.

Neither Meouch or Phobos were aware of how much time they’d spent on their feet when they finally came across what the Havves had surely been searching for. Both robots entered haphazardly.

In the rockface was the opening of a cave, leading down into the dark depths. For Phobos there was no hope of seeing what was down there, but Meouch’s eyes proved more useful.

The two headed down, Phobos staying a little bit closer than comfort to Meouch - which, for Phobos, wasn’t all that close.

A cave is a cave, no matter what planet you’re on; dark, dank, and claustrophobic. Unlike Phobos, who had to feel around and rely on his partner, Meouch was able to weave in and out with some ease.

He lowered his head beneath a stalactite. ‘Duck.’

Phobos also lowered his head, but not in time, and was gifted with a  _ whack _ .

**You could have warned me earlier-**

‘You’ll need to hold on,’ said Meouch, completely oblivious that Phobos was attempting to communicate as he slid down a small slope.

**Hold on to wh-**

Phobos, rather ungracefully, slid - or rather fell - after Meouch.

From somewhere beneath them, water was running, drowning out Meouch’s footsteps as he continued onwards.

And above, something scratching at the cave’s ceiling. Phobos thought it best not to think too hard about what could be up there.

As he felt around, Phobos noticed that their walkway was more of a bridge, with sides raised up and too narrow to walk side by side.

‘Take it slow,’ Meouch warned. ‘And you probably shouldn’t look down, either.’

_ Not that I can see anything. _

‘Stop,’ Meouch said as he did just that - meanwhile, Phobos came closer than he realised to a collision with the Commander. ‘Over there.’

Phobos left his sarcastic comment, as there was only one thing he could see in the darkness; the flash of the Havves’ eyes, which turned from further into the depths to the ceiling above.

It appeared, to Phobos, that the path opened up ahead, given the distance the Havves were standing from each other. The red of their eyes lit the area like a dull torch, the ceiling they were staring at still barely visible.

The scratching passed above Meouch and Phobos, and headed towards the two Havves.

It stopped above them. Something larger than all of them combined, appearing to hang onto the rock with four legs.

Nobody moved.

The creature lowered its head slightly and sniffed, which echoed through the cave.

A growl rumbled from its throat before it dropped to the ground, the rocky floor crunching beneath what now appeared - in the brighter light from Havve’s eyes - to be its four taloned feet.

The creature was bat-like, with large ears and and its front limbs connected to the wings. It lacked eyes in much the same way a mole did, yet seemed to navigate the cave perfectly, and seemed totally aware of the presence of others.

It shook out its fur, and from its back climbed two smaller creatures - presumably, its offspring.

Neither Havve moved.

The bigger creature arched its back, its fur standing on end as it emitted a less than pleasant and certainly unfriendly noise.

And it leapt at the smaller Havve, who moved a little too late. The creature pinned him to the ground, snapping and snarling.

The bigger Havve ran at it, slamming into it as hard as he possibly could.

The creature stumbled, and the smaller Havve got off the ground.

The children cried out and ran at the robot pair.

‘We’ve gotta help,’ instructed Meouch, no longer caring for being quiet. He ran towards them as Phobos tried to keep up while feeling his way around.

The smaller creatures circled around the Havves, who were now ready to react while trying to keep their eyes on the beasts.

Meouch stopped, Phobos right behind him.

The largest came back to its senses, cautious steps treading towards the Havves. Its growls were louder than before, fur beginning to stick out at all angles as it tried to make itself appear more menacing.

Meouch pounced and landed on the creature’s back.

It screeched, tossing its head about and shaking its body around as Meouch dug his claws in.

He swore as it ran around, doing its best to shake him off.

Again the babies cried, each singling out a Havve.

The larger Havve had no trouble grabbing the creature by its membranous wings, sending out an awful, echoing screech.

It thrashed about, managing to get its legs beneath itself, and attempted to kick violently into Havve’s torso. Its attempt to be free was unsuccessful, and instead Havve threw the creature away. The body hurtled to the ground and towards the platform’s edge.

Casting the creature out of his mind, Havve ran to Meouch’s aid.

The smaller Havve, on the other hand, wasn’t quite having the same luck.

Without the amount of power as his duplicate, Havve wrestled to keep himself upright. He gripped the creature’s front feet but it snapped, growled, and frantically tried to get free.

Phobos followed the guiding light of Havve’s eyes, taking the opportunity of the confusion to punch the creature in the side of the head.

It stopped snapping. Hesitated. Looked at Phobos and growled again.

Havve delivered a swift kick to its torso. The creature howled.

Phobos grabbed its back legs. It struggled as they lifted it up. Together, Phobos and Havve took it to the side and threw it over.

Unable to fly, the creature cried out before splashing into the water far beneath.

**You okay?**

Havve nodded. He offered Phobos a thumbs up accompanied with a tilt of his head. Phobos nodded in response.

Now all that was left was the big one.

It continued to struggle against Meouch’s grip, specks of blood matting its fur and clinging to Meouch’s claws.

Hearing the cries of its children, the terrified beast started heading for someone, anyone - Phobos and Havve.

Having gotten his feet beneath him, the Commander came to all fours on the beast. He dislodged one set of claws from its flesh and raised his paw up.

Meouch smirked. He looked up for a brief moment and saw the two before him, paying attention to each other but not the threat. ‘Look out!’

They looked forward, and jumped out of the way. The creature came to a halt before it could fall off the edge, turning and running to the larger Havve.

Meouch’s paw came back down for support.

Havve braced himself, arms spread wide.

‘What’re you doing?’ Meouch cried. ‘Move!’

Havve remained steadfast.

The creature charged towards him.

Havve dug his feet into the ground.

Meouch lowered his head.

And the creature came to a stop.

Meouch looked back up. The large Havve appeared to be a formidable foe for the creature, as he had gripped it in his arms.

The creature struggled, yet couldn’t quite get free.

Taking the opportunity presented to him, Meouch lifted his paw up once again and brought it down into the creature, slashing through layers of fur and skin.

The creature screeched and tossed its head around.

Again Meouch lifted his paw, bringing it down again and again to tear through the creature.

It continued to cry out until it could thrash around no longer, until its legs wobbled and gave out beneath it.

Havve let go of the creature. Meouch continued to slash away.

Havve came to Meouch’s side, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Meouch looked up, arm raised, pupils dilated.

And, as he realised what he’d done, his pupils began to return to their normal shape.

‘Guess I got carried away,’ Meouch grumbled as he stood.

The smaller Havve approached the larger, and they exchanged what could only be considered “a look”. The larger pointed forwards, and they continued on.

Meouch and Phobos followed.

The creature was left on the ground, breathing laboured and ready to die.

The four - led by the larger Havve - came to a smaller corridor, in which they had to duck down to traverse. This led to a chamber which glowed with a dim light.

A dim light which stopped Meouch and Phobos in their tracks.

A small, apparently natural stairway surrounded by a shallow moat of water led up to it, and it sat upon a stone pedestal. The crystal’s light gave enough for Phobos to see for the first time since they entered the cave.

‘Is that…’

The Havves walked towards the steps and stopped at their base.

Meouch looked to Phobos, who nodded.

**The time crystal. We’ve been searching for years.**

‘So have we - with no luck.’

**Who would have thought it was on Ladyworld this whole time?**

‘You two actually found it.’

Meouch walked forward, passing the two Havves. When one foot was on the first step, he felt a hand grab his wrist.

He looked around to see Phobos, visibly cross.

**What are you doing?**

‘I’m gonna get a better look at the time crystal, what else would I be doing?’

**You can’t get too close!**

‘Says who? It’s right there!’

**Says** **_me_ ** **. This is our first experience with the crystal, and you haven’t found the one in your universe, either. We don’t know what it could do.**

Meouch looked at Phobos for a little longer before sighing.

‘You’re right,’ he said, resigned. ‘We should report back. Havve.’ The two robots looked at him. ‘We’re going - we can come back later.’

The Havves nodded in unison, and all four left the cave.

But not without one small glance back at the time crystal.


	7. Together

‘What else is on the menu?’

**You haven’t stopped eating since we got here.**

Meouch laughed. ‘The kid’s got resolve, I’ll give ‘em that much.’

**I’ve never seen Strive eat this much.**

‘I missed breakfast, went on a mission,  _ and _ got teleported into another universe. It’s messed with my stomach.’

**I did two thirds of those things and I’m not hungry.**

‘Cut ‘em some slack,’ Meouch said with a smile. ‘It sounds like hungry work. I’d be wolfin’ it down too if I’d been through all that. Here, kid, we’ve got, a -’ he looked around the table and pulled a plate over, ‘cold hotdog.’

Strive picked up the cold hotdog with none of the usual hesitation one would have when they were given such a piece of food. They bit into the cold meat and its bun, though their face portrayed a sense of disappointment.

‘We’ve got it!’ Strive jumped as the voice of Doctor Sung echoed through the diner. Brigade Sung - the one whose voice had soundeed with such excitement - slid into the booth next to Phobos and Strive, pushing them both towards the wall. Crusader Sung, equally as excited, sat next to Meouch. ‘We know how to get back to our universe.’

‘Really?’ asked Strive with a mouthful of food. ‘How?’

‘Amplification,’ replied Crusader Sung. ‘If we were to find a way to amplify our music more than usual-’

‘-we could destroy Oblivion,’ Meouch finished. ‘We already figured it out.’

The smiles from the Sungs’ faces vanished. ‘You did?’

‘About ten minutes ago,’ said Strive.

**You were gone for as long as you were and that’s all you discovered?**

‘Well, no,’ replied Brigade Sung. ‘We also came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t revolve like a planet and… would move on its own…’ his words become more mumbled with every one he spoke, as though realising it wasn’t much of a conclusion.

Meouch laughed, a little ‘fuck’ slipping out as he forgot the company he’d been so careful around earlier. ‘That’s really all you two came up with? After all that time? Crap - that’s amazing. An all time low for you, I’d say.’

‘Well it’s the best we can do without coming face to face with Oblivion,’ Crusader Sung snapped.

‘Sorry, Doc,’ said Meouch as he wiped the tears from his eyes. ‘I never expected us to come up with the same stuff as you when we weren’t even looking for it.’

Silence came over the booth.

Strive, looking to break the tension, looked over to their Sung. ‘Doctor Sung, you have to try the food here.’

‘Is it that good?’

**It’s decent,** interjected Phobos.  **I think Strive is so hungry that anything will be equivalent to the finest dining.**

‘That’s not true,’ Strive said as they took another bite of the cold hotdog.

‘Something incredible just happened!’ Strive jumped again as the roar of the Brigade Meouch filled the diner. Other patrons looked around to the boisterous lion.

‘Let me guess - you discovered how to get back to your universe?’ Crusader Meouch laughed, receiving a glance filled with daggers from Crusader Sung.

Meouch, Phobos, and the two Havves squeezed into the booth, squishing Strive between the wall and Brigade Phobos.

‘No - something that might be even better. These big guys found the time crystal!’

‘ _ What? _ ’ exclaimed Crusader Sung. ‘Really? Here, on Ladyworld?’

The larger Havve nodded and looked over to Brigade Sung.

‘You just knew where it was?’ Havve nodded.

‘We never even had a clue where it was,’ said Crusader Sung. ‘Would it be possible that your Havve is tuned into the time crystal’s frequency?’

‘Then, going by your logic, your Havve would be tuned into our time crystal’s frequency, right?’

‘It’s possible, but we couldn’t say for sure unless we got to see your universe. But, hey!’ Sung turned to the two Havves. ‘Great work on finding the time crystal! We’ll need to study it - this could unlock  _ endless _ possibilities.’

**But it’s more important that we get back to our universe,** said Phobos.

‘The time crystal could prove useful,’ debated Brigade Sung. ‘That’s not to say we can’t work on our plan to defeat Oblivion.’

Crusader Sung nodded. ‘I’ll check out the time crystal - I’ll need your help, Havve.’ Brigade Havve nodded. ‘And I’ll report back with our findings.’

‘It won’t be like your  _ last _ findings, will it?’ Sung shot Crusader Meouch a glare. Meouch just smiled.

‘Then the rest of us will work on Oblivion,’ said Brigade Meouch. ‘If none of us have anything else?’ The others nodded.

‘Right!’ Crusader Sung clapped his hands together. ‘Havve - take me to the time crystal.’ Havve got out of the booth, while Sung squeezed past the others.

Strive breathed a sigh of relief as everybody moved back down.

**Have you finished eating?** asked Brigade Phobos.

Strive nodded. ‘I think squeezing against that wall moved my food around the wrong way - I couldn’t eat another bite.’

**Sorry.**

‘Alright!’ exclaimed Crusader Meouch, punching his fists down onto the table as he stood. ‘Let’s get to work!’

‘Seems like we’ve missed something,’ said Brigade Meouch. ‘I guess you’ve never even come close to Oblivion before - how do we suddenly plan on defeating it?’

His Groove Crusader counterpart smiled.

‘How else would we do it,’ he said, ‘except with music?’


	8. Amplify

The ship’s hatch opened and in stepped Meouch, Phobos, and Strive, who hadn’t been able to resist the thought of helping with something new.

While certainly large enough for the four of them and perhaps a guest or two, the Groove Crusaders’ ship paled in comparison to that of the Starlight Brigade - yet the new space was still of interest to Strive.

Compared to this, the Starlight Brigade’s ship almost felt sterile. This ship felt more industrial; the inside didn’t appear decorated in any way, metal walls perhaps having once been painted only to have chipped away over time. It had gotten unnaturally warm after sitting under the warmth of Ladyworld’s sun all day, but Strive didn’t let this detract from the odd appeal.

‘Where is it?’ they asked, having finished taking in the atmosphere and turning back to Meouch and Phobos.

**Near the back of the ship,** Phobos replied.

‘ _ I’ll _ lead,’ said Meouch, more than eager to get in front.

Strive followed behind Meouch with Phobos at his side, whose eyes were locked onto Meouch like a predator watches his prey.

‘You two don’t get along, do you?’ Strive whispered.

**He destroyed my home.**

Strive, having realised they’d brought up a sensitive topic, gave a silent  _ oh _ . ‘Do you think my Meouch and Phobos-’

**Probably.**

Strive looked to the ground as they walked. ‘Sorry.’

They felt a hand on their shoulder. When they looked up, Phobos gave them a thumbs up. Strive responded with a weak, apologetic smile.

‘Here,’ Meouch announced when they came to a door which slid up on their arrival.

Any feelings of guilt that Strive harboured instantly vanished.

Synth, drums, guitar and bass, among other things - all stuff they had seen in images, but never up close and personal.

‘You guys really use these to defeat your enemies?’

**Defeat might be the wrong word.**

‘We sure do!’ Meouch answered proudly - and, given that Strive hadn’t been watching Phobos, giving the authoritative answer.

‘That’s so cool!’ Strive exclaimed. ‘I wanna see how you guys do it!’

‘You will, when we take Oblivion down.’ Meouch walked by Strive, tussling their hair on his way past. ‘For now, we’ve just gotta get this stuff outside.’

_ Outside _ was where Sung, the other Meouch and Phobos, and Havve could be found, hovering around a large piece of paper. Strive, who was struggling to carry equipment out more than they expected to, began to wish they’d stayed with them.

‘You’ve done good, kid,’ said Meouch, who didn’t seem to be struggling at all. ‘You can join ‘em, if you want.’

Strive - with difficulty, as they tried not to break anything - put down everything in their arms and jogged over to the others. When they saw the complexity of Sung’s diagram, they began to wish they hadn’t.

The paper was split into quadrants, with a rough yet detailed sketch of each of the Starlight Brigade’s ships, minus Strive’s. Each had an additional part drawn on, or somewhere on the side of the paper with ruled lines signifying where it should go.

Phobos tapped one of the pieces and drew his finger from the quadrant it was in - with Havve’s ship - to Meouch’s quadrant.

‘That might work,’ pondered Sung. ‘If we-’

‘It would obstruct the fuel tank,’ Brigade Meouch interrupted. ‘It’d be dangerous to put it there.’

‘There’s nowhere else to put these things,’ Sung debated. ‘And stacking equipment might prove to be dangerous - we’d lose agility in a potential life or death situation.’

‘You want us to explode?’

**Yours would be a small sacrifice to save this world.** Phobos smiled cheekily.

Strive, who still barely understood any of this, studied the sketches closer than before.

Havve looked at Sung, who put his head in his hands. ‘That would be the  _ opposite _ of what we want to accomplish.’

‘Hey, Doctor Sung,’ Strive piped up, ‘where’s my ship?’

‘ _ Oh! _ ’ Sung removed the hands from his face and looked over to Strive. ‘Of course! Strive’s ship can carry the equipment!’

**Would that be any less dangerous?**

‘It might!’ Sung flipped the paper over and began to sketch Strive’s ship. ‘The plan is that we all travel with our duplicates - Strive will be the only one that’s alone, not to mention they’re the smallest. There’ll be the least need for movement in and out of the ship. This might be the  _ safest _ and most efficient way to carry out our plan - otherwise we might not do it at all.’ Sung looked to Strive. ‘Are you okay with that?’

Strive nodded, and Sung beamed.

‘Alright - let’s get to work!’


	9. Discover

Equipped with a flashlight, Doctor Sung approached the time crystal. He couldn’t take his eyes off it, as though his gaze was magnetised to the crystal.

All that echoed in the chamber was the  _ tap, tap, tap _ of his feet and the  _ click, click, click _ of Havve’s, who followed behind.

Sung, who was so focused on the beauty of the time crystal and the astonishment that the crystal was even found - and under their very noses at that - lifted his foot. It came down onto the step beneath, and with it came a cautious rumble.

He looked around to Havve. ‘That... could’ve been a coincidence.’

_ I’ll go first. _

‘Let’s play it safe,’ Sung warned. ‘If that shake  _ wasn’t _ a coincidence - we don’t know what power the crystal has. We can’t risk something happening to us.’

Havve stared at Sung.

Sung stared back.

And Havve put one foot after the other and began to ascend the rocky stairs to the crystal.

‘Wait-!’

No shakes, no rumbles, just Havve standing before the time crystal.

Sung didn’t budge.

Havve looked at Sung again, tilting his head with what could almost be considered a smug look.

‘Okay, can you…’ Sung hesitated. Sighed. ‘Could you… touch… the crystal?’

Without breaking eye contact, Havve put a hand on the crystal. When nothing happened he looked at the crystal and put another hand on it. And another, and another, until the crystal was covered in his hands.

_ Nothing’s happening. _

‘Maybe that’s not how it works.’

_ Phobos thought it’d be bad to get close. _

‘None of us have any experience with the time crystal - I think he was being careful. Maybe if we-’ Sung took another step forward, and once again the chamber rumbled. He moved his foot back down. ‘Okay, that was a bad idea.’

Havve removed his hands from the crystal.

_ It could be defective. Or not real. _

‘No, no, this has to be it. We’ve searched the universe for so long. It can’t just be a red herring. It has to be the real thing. Look - it even matches what we’ve heard about in stories.’

_ They’re just stories. We could be the first to see it in millenia. _

‘No… no, I refuse to believe it. Tell me how you found the crystal to begin with.’

_ You already know - I instinctively knew where it was located. _

‘What about our - my - Havve? Did he know it was here?’

_ No. _

Sung pursed his lips.

‘Could you two be wired differently?’

_ We barely look similar. Of course- _

‘No, not physically - something inside you - mentally, I guess. Maybe it’s like a… frequency, like on a radio-’

_ You’re making this up. _

‘I’m not!’ Sung denied, a little too strongly for someone who was supposedly telling the truth. ‘But if it’s a frequency, then maybe you’d be able to, I don’t know, tune yourself in  _ more _ ?’

Havve stared.

‘Could you try? Please?’

In lieu of rolling his eyes, Havve rolled his head away from Sung to look back at the crystal, and put all hands back on it.

All was silent, except for the sound of Sung’s breathing.

Neither moved an inch. Not a single finger twitched, nor eye blinked.

As though time itself had stopped.

Energy began filling the room. He could feel it, and he wondered if Havve felt it too.

Concentrated.

It moved, with certainty, away from Sung, and towards the crystal.

Towards Havve.

And with a  _ bang _ , the energy erupted in a burst of electricity.

Havve’s hands dropped from the crystal, and head went limp.

Sung swore he felt his heart stop.

‘Havve-’

Sung took a step up, but the cavern shook more violently.

‘Havve!’

Internally, Sung debated whether to move towards Havve or remain still. Moving risked the shaking and anything that may come with them, remaining as he was risked an ill fate for his friend, or at least an alternate version of his friend which kind of still meant they  _ were _ friends, but there was the probability that-

Havve lifted his head.

Sung took a sigh of relief.  _ At least he’s alive. _ ‘Are you alright?’

Havve looked at Sung.  _ I’m fine. _

‘What happened?’

_ I left. _

‘What do you mean, you left?’

_ I wasn’t here. _

‘You never left.’

Havve began walking back down to Sung.

_ I was with the time crystal. It was not like this - the cave wasn’t here. The time crystal sat in an open field, with some kind of a monument. _

‘I think that shock might have done something to your-’

_ I was there. The crystal took me to another time. _

Sung frowned. ‘You sure that shock didn’t fry your circuits?’ Havve nodded. Sung looked away, pensive, and then towards the crystal. He took a deep breath. ‘I should try. Just to be sure.’

He started up the stairs again with renewed resolve, ignoring the quaking and the low rumble of a growl coming from below.

Havve took but two large steps to grab Sung by the arm.

Sung looked back.

_ You said yourself - it could be dangerous. _

‘But how can I know what you mean unless I experience it for myself?’

_ Trust me. _

Havve stared at Sung, who looked between his robotic companion and the time crystal.

‘I suppose I’ll have to. But we still don’t know what effects the crystal has on organic matter.’

_It might be best that we don’t know._ _You could get stuck in another time._

Sung let out a resigned sigh. ‘I suppose you’re right. It’s best not to risk our safety if it’s not urgent.’

_ Let’s head back. _

Sung nodded, and Havve went back down the stairs. Sung followed not too far behind, but the curiosity was killing him - was that the true power of the time crystal, or was there more? All the stories spoke of time travel, but was it all just a brain game?

Surely there had to be more behind something so highly coveted.

And, one day, Sung knew they would be the ones to figure it out.


	10. Reunite

Sung found the scene they came back to a little bit heartwarming. Everybody was working together, putting what seemed to be the finishing touches on Strive’s ship; even his universe’s Meouch and Phobos, renowned for their inability to get along, seemed to be putting their differences aside for the greater good.

‘Looks like things are coming along,’ he said.

His duplicate turned and beamed. ‘It’s almost finished - we’ve just been making some final adjustments to the ship, and we’ll be ready to go. Any news about the time crystal?’

‘Getting too close for me posed a potential safety risk - but Havve said it sent him to another time.’

_ It did. _

‘The only problem is that he never left the cave. I want to believe what he’s saying, but-’

_ Are you saying I’m a liar? _

‘Not at all! But it would’ve been easier to understand if you’d let me see the crystal for myself - we still don’t know what effects the crystal has on organic matter, if any. Not to mention that the cave started quaking when I tried to get close, but nothing happened for Havve. It could be a warning, or possibly the destabalisation of time itself, but it seems that inorganic beings aren’t at risk as I was - anyway!’ Sung clapped his hands together. ‘I went on a bit of a tangent. It seems like we might finally put a stop to Oblivion.’

‘Oblivion could be anywhere,’ Brigade Meouch interjected as he and the others walked over. ‘Do we have a plan to find it?’

Nobody responded. They all looked at one another for ideas, hoping that it may lie in the eyes of their friends, but with no such luck.

‘Um…’ Strive fidgeted, looking to the ground. All eyes came to them, which was really the opposite of what they wanted.

Brigade Phobos tapped Strive’s shoulder.

**Do you have something, Strive?**

‘Uh-’ they looked around at everybody. In each one of their gazes - even the Havves, they thought, though they knew it wasn’t entirely possible - was expectation. High hopes.

Something they couldn’t fulfil.

‘-no, it’s nothing. Sorry.’

**It’s getting late,** Crusader Phobos observed, looking towards the setting sun.

‘It’s been a big day for us,’ agreed Brigade Meouch. ‘It’ll be better to tackle Oblivion after we rest. Maybe one of us’ll figure out how to find it.’

‘Right,’ Brigade Sung agreed. ‘The only decision we have to make is where we should eat.’

‘What do you mean, we have to decide?’ Crusader Meouch smiled. He jabbed a thumb back at the diner. ‘We’ve got a perfectly good place to eat right here.’

Everybody groaned collectively - with the exception of the Phobos pair, who both rolled their eyes, and Brigade Meouch, who laughed and looked equally as smug as his counterpart.

Food of all varieties of diner fare covered the table, with barely any room in front of the customers. The waitress who had been wearing a smile before they walked in had soon frowned, remembering the mess they had made and left for her to clean only earlier the same day, and hadn’t stopped frowning throughout their service.

‘You think we’ll need all this food?’ asked Brigade Sung.

‘It’s not like we’re made of money,’ said Crusader Sung.

‘Speak for yourself,’ replied Crusader Meouch. ‘This is a celebration!’

**We already had one,** retorted Crusader Phobos.  **That’s why we were here in the first place.**

‘This is different!’ Meouch’s response was much more jovial than any he ever gave Phobos. ‘This one’s for the new friends we’ve made, and the defeat of Oblivion!’

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Brigade Sung warned. ‘Any number of things could go wrong-’

‘You don’t believe in us?’ asked Brigade Meouch, almost looking taken aback, but a small smile graced his face. ‘This is the first time I’ve heard anything but resounding optimism from you, Doc.’

‘No, it’s not that, I just think it’s a little too early to be celebrating-’

‘Let’s take this fucker down!’ roared Crusader Meouch. Everybody, with the obvious exceptions and Brigade Sung, cheered.

All except Strive, who morosely leaned against the window’s ledge.

‘Can we think about this rationally?’ Sung asked as he looked around to all those who were digging into the food now that the boisterousness of celebration was done. And then to Strive, with some concern.

‘You okay, Strive?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine.’

‘The kid probably just ate too much,’ said Crusader Meouch, barely bothering to finish all his food before piping up. ‘You really should’ve seen ‘em go before.’

‘It’s just,’ Strive pushed themselves upright, ‘The Commander said it himself. It’s been a big day. I think I just need some rest.’

‘You can use our ship,’ Crusader Sung offered as Strive squeezed past. ‘Just find a bed and go to sleep.’

‘But make sure it’s not  _ my _ bed,’ said Meouch.

‘What’s wrong with your bed?’ asked Strive.

‘Nothin’.’ Meouch smiled. ‘But I’ve gotta sleep somewhere.’

‘The Starlight Brigade are our guests,’ said Sung. ‘I think we can give up our quarters for a day or two for them.’

‘Then where are we meant to sleep?’ Meouch laughed half-heartedly. ‘On the floor?’

Strive left them to their argument, voices fading as they walked away.

‘We have extra amenities that we can use.’

‘That’s not enough for all of us…’


	11. Fate

Eyes shoot open to darkness.

To familiarity.

Stars and planets spread out. So many of them foreign with purples and reds, yet some familiar, one of them more familiar than the others. Though here it consisted not of its usual blue and green, but instead a dusty brown.

Even in the vastness of this space, in a universe that wasn’t their own, they knew this planet was Ladyworld.

And as quickly as the stars and planets had spread out, they were soon swallowed by darkness.

But this one pulsated and moved, and made them feel…

Empty.

_ Strive. _

All they could do was watch on with large eyes. Fearful. Sweat beaded down their face. A slight tremble overcame them, but they were otherwise unable to move.

A dark hand reached out, and all they could do was watch as it began to engulf them.

_ Strive. _

A voice - not that one - one that was familiar.  _ Too _ familiar.

They turned their head. Not much - they couldn’t turn it too much. Just enough to see a bright light which spread in a flash. The darkness groaned and was pushed back, once again releasing the planets and stars.

And now Strive could turn, but the brightness of the light - which was slowly creeping closer and closer - was almost unbearable, and they had to squint to look into it.

‘Who are you?’ they asked.

To which the light only replied with three words.

_ You will prevail. _

They did not jolt awake, but they found their breathing a little more rapid than usual. Strive took a deep breath to calm down, and sat up.

Strive came out of the room to find everybody eating already.

‘Morning, Strive!’ Brigade Sung beamed.

Whatever they were eating - for Strive was still too weary and blurry-eyed to really tell - looked healthier than the regular diner fare. Greens and oranges and other colours which instilled thoughts of nature, rather than the yellows and browns that they had begun to become accustomed to.

‘Morning,’ Strive yawned.

‘Sleep well?’

‘Yeah - better than the night before.’

‘Sure hope you did,’ Crusader Meouch smiled, gentle yet full of mischief. ‘That was  _ my _ room you took.’

‘Oh - sorry.’ Strive joined the others. Crusader Havve passed a plate over, and Strive smiled meekly.

**You don’t need to apologise to him,** signed Crusader Phobos.  **It isn’t like he didn’t have a place to sleep.**

‘That bed was scratchy!’ Meouch complained. ‘I woulda preferred the floor.’

**Which you slept on. Loudly. Your complaining kept the rest of us awake.**

‘Did anybody come up with any ways to find Oblivion?’ Brigade Meouch, who could see the conversation was going absolutely nowhere (except possibly a fist-and-claw fight), interjected.

Again, nobody answered.

‘Uh, actually…’ all eyes turned to Strive. ‘It’s not so much an idea, but… I had a dream about Oblivion.’

‘You get used to them,’ said Crusader Sung.

‘No, it wasn’t just a regular dream. I had one before we encountered it, too - before I knew it even existed.’ As if all the eyes being on them wasn’t bad enough, it felt like everybody was more intent on listening to Strive now. ‘It called out to me - and… it did when we faced it for the first time, too.’

Brigade Sung lifted a brow. ‘But we didn’t hear anything.’

Strive shook their head. ‘It was in my head. Like… it was inside my thoughts. The reason I charged at it was because it kept mocking me.’

**Why didn’t you tell us?** asked Brigade Phobos.

‘I was afraid - of what was happening, but mostly that you wouldn’t believe me.’

Brigade Meouch put a paw on Strive’s shoulder. Strive looked up at him, and Meouch smiled. ‘Course we’d believe you. You’re one of us.’

Strive smiled. After a moment they looked back at the table. ‘But… last night’s dream, there was something else. A bright light. It just said…  _ you will prevail _ . That has to be good, right?’

Brigade Sung nodded. ‘Where was it?’

‘It was in space. I think Ladyword was nearby, but I don’t know much more than that.’

Crusader Havve looked at Crusader Sung, who said, ‘Just because it’s a dream doesn’t mean it can’t be a valid point of reference - stranger things have been happening, after all.’

**And nobody has had any better ideas,** added Brigade Phobos.

‘It couldn’t be too far either,’ mused Brigade Sung. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to check it out anyway, right? If Strive was wrong then their dreams were just a coincidence, but if they were right, we have a lot to gain.’

‘Are we in agreement, then?’ asked Crusader Sung. Everybody nodded. ‘Right - let’s move out.’

Almost in unison, everybody got up and moved out of their seats.

‘Strive.’ They turned to look at Crusader Meouch, who nodded his head towards Strive’s meal. ‘You eaten, kid?’ Strive shook their head. ‘Go on, we’ll wait.’

‘Oh - thanks.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ Meouch walked away, back turned to Strive. ‘Not like we have a choice, do we? ‘sides, you’ll need it.’

Ships lifted up into the sky. Strive’s was the last off the ground; with the additional features and weight, it slowed them down more than they were comfortable.

‘Steady, Strive,’ said Crusader Sung over comms.

‘I’m fine,’ they reassured him. ‘It just takes a little getting used to. I can’t go as fast as usual.’

‘Let’s hold back for Strive,’ instructed Brigade Meouch, and so they did; though it would take longer to complete their mission, this was how it always was.

As Doctor Sung had said countless times - nobody gets left behind.

‘Alright,’ said Brigade Sung as they broke through Ladyworld’s atmosphere, ‘let’s split up and spread out to cover more ground, and report when we find something.’

The four ships went in opposite directions, leaving Strive on their lonesome.

They looked about as far as they could possibly see. Though their dream had begun to fade, they could still remember some little details; colours of planets. Purples and reds. Although they knew well enough that dreams had to be taken with a grain of salt, it was all they had to go on.

Strive’s ship pushed forward slowly as they continued to look, trying to find the scene from their dream, and trying not to run headfirst into Oblivion.

Luckily, even in the vastness of space, a pulsating orb of darkness that likes to torment you isn’t too difficult to find.

It was almost like their dream, but here they were enclosed, safe - safer, at least, than the image their mind had created.

Strive’s voice came in soft over comms.

‘I think I found it.’

But Oblivion had become larger since the last encounter, and Strive swore it was more menacing too, threatening to engulf Ladyworld and its surrounds.

They were suddenly glad, despite having arguably the most important job, that they didn’t have the pressure of facing off against this thing, unlike the Groove Crusaders.

Crusader Sung’s voice rang out, more solemn than Strive had ever heard.

‘Ready?’

Silence.

Havve began tapping in with his drumsticks.

Strive flipped a switch.

And when the music began it blared through, almost jolting Strive from their seat.

They began to understand how the Groove Crusaders would take down haters with music alone. All played in perfect harmony, each riff as unique as each other yet working so perfectly together. This song - even to the musically uninitiated, like Strive - was created with all the love and care in the world.

They did their best to remain alert and not relax  _ too _ much.

‘It’s working!’ Brigade Meouch cheered. Sure enough, Oblivion was shrinking back, much less of a threat than it had been mere moments ago.

‘Keep playing!’ Brigade Sung followed on. ‘Everybody - steady on towards it. We don’t want to give it too much room.’

As the Starlight Brigade moved forward so did the song, inching ever closer to the defeat of Oblivion.

Strive smiled, and they finally let themselves be overwhelmed with the relaxation.

From somewhere - inside of their ship, they assumed, given the lack of sound in the vacuum of space - Strive heard a groan.

_ It’s nothing to worry about, _ they thought,  _ it’s just the extra parts on my ship - it wasn’t meant to carry this weight, but I know we did a good job. _

But they were pulled back to reality as the music stopped.

‘Strive!’ shouted Brigade Sung. ‘Move back!’

‘Huh?’ They looked out to see Oblivion growing larger. As instructed, they pulled their ship back. ‘What’s going on?’

‘It’s not working.’ Strive could hear the waver in Crusader Sung’s voice. ‘This has never happened - our music hasn’t ever stopped working on a hater before.’

‘We need to regroup,’ commanded Brigade Meouch. ‘Think of a new strategy-’

Lights went out. Strive tried to move their ship - no such luck.

‘What’s happening?’ they panicked, looking around their ship as they pressed and turned every button and knob in sight.

‘It’s draining our energy,’ replied Brigade Sung. ‘Soon there won’t be anything left.’

‘So you mean we’ll just-’ Strive threw their head back towards the encroaching Oblivion. ‘We’ll…  _ die _ ?’

‘We can’t admit defeat yet!’ exclaimed Brigade Meouch. ‘There has to be something up our sleeves!’

‘I usually have so many ideas,’ said Crusader Sung. He sounded - for the first time ever, as long as Strive had known either Sung - dejected. ‘They usually come to me in droves. But now… what else can we do?’

Silence.

‘No,’ Strive refused. ‘No this… this can’t be it. Can it?’ They looked out to the Sungs’ ship. Crusader Sung looked back and, though he couldn’t see past the visor, he looked apologetic. ‘We can’t… we can’t die here! I know…’ Strive did their best to hold back their tears, ‘I know what I was getting into when I joined the Starlight Brigade, but this… I couldn’t have ever imagined this. I’m…’ they sniffled, and their tears fell down their face. ‘I’m not done with our adventures.

‘I don’t want this to be the end.

‘ _ I don’t want to die _ .’

They heard a deep rumble.

_ This is it. _

Almost like a growl.

_ The end. _

‘It was us!’ Crusader Meouch roared out, so loud that all eyes turned to the Meouchs’ ship. He looked at Strive with eyes filled with remorse. ‘Me and Phobos. We were responsible for all this - we created Oblivion.’

‘What?’

‘No,’ denied Brigade Sung. ‘You can’t be, I mean - I can see how that’s possible, but you couldn’t. It has to be the work of someone truly evil.’

‘He’s right,’ said Crusader Sung. ‘That’s why we’re chasing this thing in the first place.’

‘C’mon, Phobos,’ Meouch begged. ‘You’ve gotta help me out - you’ve gotten me outta tougher situations than this. Pals help pals, right?’

He didn’t smile, didn’t take a single ounce of pity on the lion. ‘ _ Pal _ ? You’re no  _ pal _ of mine. I might have once considered you a  _ friend _ , but now I see the truth - you’re just a lowly, funk-smuggling pirate. You’re nothing more than  _ scum _ .’

‘It was a mistake, I know better now! It won’t happen- you won’t hear about this  _ ever _ again.’

‘How many times have you told me that? Surely you knew that at some point my trust in you was going to run out. Leave this planet, Meouch - if you can avoid the enforcements like I’m sure you have plenty of times before this. And  _ never _ return.’

The pleading disappeared from his eyes, his apologetic expression immediately turning to a scowl. ‘Fine,’ he growled, harsher than Phobos had ever heard from him, ‘I’m done here anyway.’ Meouch turned and walked away. ‘See ya, Lord Phobos.’

But his escape didn’t go as smoothly as he would have liked. Blood was shed, lives were lost and, eventually, a planet was destroyed.

Lord Phobos, a lucky survivor of Meouch’s destruction and filled with a burning desire for revenge, chased Meouch across the galaxy in a game of cat and mouse. And in Meouch’s eyes it was just that; a game, a bit of fun.

It was only after weeks of their game that Meouch had enough, and the two set down on the stage of their final battle - Ladyworld.

Just like Phobos’ before it, the planet almost came to an end as the two fought it out; greenery stripped from trees, water from lakes, leaving nothing but barren earth. Dark clouds followed Meouch and Phobos wherever they went, casting parts of Ladyworld into perpetual nightfall.

Both were on their last legs - one decisive strike and one of them would perish.

Whatever happened next, they were ready.

Or so they had thought, until Doctor Sung - somebody they discovered would one day be a friend, rather than a troublesome interloper - intervened and made the two see that their ways were wrong.

But Phobos had harboured such an intense amount of hatred that Sung’s intervention wasn’t the way to rid of it; while he agreed to no longer aim for Meouch’s downfall, Phobos still secretly kept resentment for the man he had once considered a friend.

Such an unnatural way of getting rid of hatred gave birth to Oblivion; the dark clouds which surrounded the two lifted further into the air, and made their way to spread hatred across the universe.

‘If I’d known this would’ve happened,’ Crusader Meouch began, ‘I would’ve never done what I did. Putting my life on the line is one thing, but risking the lives of my friends is another. I’m sorry for all of this - even to you, Phobos. This would’ve never happened if one of us just died like we were meant to!’

He looked over to the Phobos ship, where Crusader Phobos looked back. Brigade Phobos, on the other hand, appeared to be deep in thought.

And when he looked up it seemed to be with a certain resolve that came through, even behind his helmet.

And he began to stand.

Crusader Phobos grabbed Brigade Phobos by the arm, who simply shook him loose.

Brigade Sung, who looked over and noticed the silent commotion, activated comms. ‘Phobos - what’s going on?’

Brigade Phobos opened the ship’s hatch.

‘Phobos-’

And he went outside after finally getting free of his duplicate’s grip, closing the hatch behind him.

Phobos looked over to the Sung’s ship.

**If Oblivion wants Meouch or Phobos, then I’ll give it one.**

‘Phobos, you-’ realisation dawned. ‘Wait, Phobos, you can’t do that, it’s not worth it. Get back into your ship, we can find another way-’

But despite Sung’s panicked pleas, Phobos was unable to hear him.

He turned to the ships, his back to Oblivion, and pushed off towards the darkness.

Phobos removed his helmet and took one last look at his friends.

And with one breath, he spoke an unheard word.

‘Goodbye.’

Oblivion reached out for Phobos. The mass enveloped him, and in a flash both disappeared from sight.

Power returned to the ships.

Everybody remained silent. Still. Stunned.

Nobody could look away from where Oblivion had once been.

Strive could only imagine that everybody had the same tears in their eyes, the same wetness on their cheeks, and they couldn’t help but feel partially responsible.

Maybe everybody else felt it, too. Even Crusader Phobos had been unable to stop him, yet Strive couldn’t help but feel there was more they could have done.

‘Let’s turn back,’ said Brigade Meouch solemnly after an extended silence. ‘There’s nothing more we can do.

‘Oblivion has been defeated.’


	12. Mourn

When friends are lost, life goes on.

When family departs from the world, we mourn our losses. Sometimes the lines between family and friends are blurred - we become so close to those we love that we consider them family more than our blood relatives.

Nobody could remember the last funeral they attended, and they thought that Phobos would prefer to be remembered in his own way. Crusader Phobos, who had clammed up since the incident, knew that’s what he would prefer.

They had a toast in his name - to the brave Lord Phobos, who sacrificed himself for the good of the universe. And the Starlight Brigade regaled themselves and the Crusaders with tales of their fallen ally, who was so often in good spirits and willing to lend a hand.

The remaining Phobos listened but did not join in as frowns were replaced with smiles - and though the mood remained sombre, things began to lighten up as the hours passed. Deep down they still missed their friend, but the stories helped. Phobos was still alive inside of them.

The changing mood was lost on Crusader Phobos, who decided that he had heard enough and decided instead to remove himself from the room.

He opted instead to sit outside, looking up to the sky where they had lost him. Phobos knew it wasn’t the way he’d like to be remembered, but it was the way that best helped him cope with the loss.

‘Hey.’ Phobos looked up to see Strive, who sat next to him. ‘Are you okay?’

**Are any of us right now?**

‘We all miss him. It might look like we’re having fun in there, but I know we’re all thinking the same thing.’

**I get that - it’s not the problem.** Phobos paused.  **I basically watched myself die out there. The celebration of life is fine, but nobody else understands how that feels. I don’t have anybody to talk to.**

‘You can talk to me.’ Phobos looked to Strive, who offered a sympathetic smile.

**No offense, Strive, but I think of all the people here, you’d understand the least.**

Strive’s smile vanished.

**Sorry. I think I’m just going to go to sleep.**

Phobos turned back to the Crusader ship.

‘Oh - okay. Let me know if you wanna talk.’

Phobos didn’t respond.

Strive was left sitting alone, and they took up looking to the stars.

They swore that they sparkled extra bright that night.

‘Our plan didn’t quite go exactly as we thought it would.’

One week. The loss of Lord Phobos was still fresh in their minds, but they knew that some matters couldn’t go unspoken.

‘And now we don’t know if there are any cross particles left in the universe.’

‘This might take longer than we thought.’

‘Where’s Phobos?’

‘Still holed up in his room, I think. I saw him come out for breakfast, but he didn’t even make eye contact.’

‘The only person he’s spoken to is Strive.’

‘Do you know how Phobos is doing? Strive?’

Strive blinked, like they were finally coming back to this plane of existence. They looked over to see both Sungs staring at them. ‘What?’

‘How’s Phobos?’

‘Oh - um… I don’t think he’s doing too well, actually. He might’ve gotten worse.’

‘We can’t just let him wallow like that.’

‘Meouch - Crusader Meouch - maybe you should go talk to him.’

‘Me?’ Meouch complained. ‘Why me?’

‘Don’t you feel… partially responsible for this?’

‘Why would I?’

‘You know I don’t like to point fingers, but if it weren’t for you and-’

‘If it weren’t for  _ me _ ?’ Meouch growled, raising his voice. ‘ _ I _ didn’t force Phobos to sacrifice himself like that!’

Nobody spoke - Crusader Sung gave Meouch a moment to cool down. ‘I know Phobos’ sacrifice isn’t directly your fault, but maybe if you were to apologise for the two of you starting the whole Oblivion thing in the first place…’

Meouch glared at Sung.

‘ _ Fine _ .’

He had the decency to knock before entering, at least. Meouch had known that his anger wouldn’t fly, and had taken the time to calm down before approaching.

‘Hey, buddy,’ he said as he entered. His tone made it sound like maybe he’d calmed down  _ too _ much. ‘How’s it goin’?’

No response from Phobos, who sat on his bed.

‘That’s okay, you don’t have to say a  _ word _ . I just thought I’d check in to see how my favourite Phobos is- ah, fuck,’ the harshness returned to his voice, ‘I mean, just wanted to see how you’re holdin’ up, is all.’

**What do you want?**

‘Like I said-’

**What do you really want?**

‘I guess-’ Meouch cleared his throat, ‘-to apologise. Not for what’s just happened, I don’t think any of us could have stopped-’ Meouch paused. Recomposed. ‘I wanted to apologise for, uh, what we caused.’

**What we caused?**

‘Yeah - y’know, Oblivion.’

**What** **_we_ ** **caused?** Finally, Phobos faced Meouch. He had fire in his eyes, and spite in his signs.  **_I_ ** **caused** **_nothing_ ** **.** **_I_ ** **didn’t avoid authorities and a death sentence. And** **_I_ ** **, of all people, wasn’t caught smuggling** **_funk_ ** **from planet to planet!**

‘Hey,’ Meouch said, the undertone of a growl in his voice, ‘we’re equally responsible for Oblivion. ‘ _ You _ mightn’t have gone on the run, but  _ you _ still gave chase.  _ You _ didn’t smuggle funk, but  _ you _ harboured hatred - and look where that got us!’

**You destroyed my entire planet! My family, my friends - I would have never harboured that hatred if you hadn’t shown your face in the first place!**

‘What’s your problem? I come in to apologise and you start playing the blame game!’

**What do you** **_think_ ** **my problem is? I watched myself** **_die_ ** **. Maybe you need to go out there and find out how that feels.**

‘That’s no reason to take it out on me!’

‘Hey,’ said Crusader Sung as he entered the room, ‘what’s going on here?’

‘I just come in here trying to apologise and he starts putting all the blame on me!’

‘Is that true, Phobos?’

**Of course I did! When it comes down to it, Oblivion is his fault. It would have never happened if Meouch hadn’t come to my planet.**

‘Okay, well…’ Sung took a deep breath. ‘What’s done is done. It’s in the past. It seems like Meouch is trying to make good with you, Phobos. If I were you, I think I’d accept his apology.’

**His apology won’t undo the past.** Phobos sighed.  **I wish we could just go back and stop the other Phobos from sacrificing himself.**

Realisation dawned on Sung’s face. ‘Wait… Phobos, you’ve given me an idea!’ Phobos just stared. ‘It might be risky - but I think we’ll be able to get the Brigade’s Phobos back! Would you be willing to put your own life on the line to save another?’

**You know the answer to that.**

For the first time in a week, Sung laughed. ‘Just like your duplicate. Alright, all we need to do is get everybody else on board, and then we’ll be depart for the time crystal’s cave.’


	13. Time Shift

‘It’s a simple mission - in and out. Won’t take more than five minutes.’

That’s what Crusader Sung had been reassuring everybody on their way to the cave. The Meouches had become sick of hearing it, while the Havves continued to doubt the legitimacy of his plan. Strive seemed more than eager to see the rumoured time crystal; Phobos was just praying that this would work.

The Sungs, Strive, and Phobos clicked on their flashlights when they entered the cave. With light to guide their way, Phobos found the journey to be different from the last time. He could duck and dodge as need be (Meouch’s directions had been absolutely  _ hopeless _ the last time), and could finally see the peril he had been in.

The rocky bridge they had crossed had been extremely narrow. Water rushed beneath, and Phobos knew that if any of them fell it would be the last time they were ever seen. Yet the cave drew you in, like you would want to dwell there for the rest of your life; it was iridescent, shining purples and greens as their torches shone on walls and stalactites.

He thought back to the beasts they had battled, and knew he would be just as angry were somebody to disturb the natural beauty of the cave.

In single file they ducked down into the corridor which led to the time crystal.

Those that had yet to see the time crystal seemed just as in awe as they had been - particularly Strive, who looked like they had stars in their eyes.

‘This will work,’ said Crusader Sung, turning his head to look at Havve. ‘It has to, one way or another. The danger doesn’t matter,’ he looked at Phobos and smiled, ‘we do this for Phobos.’

The group hurried up the steps, ignoring quakes and shakes and croaks-

_ Croaks? _

And a  _ thud _ from behind, which stopped them in their tracks.

A giant frog dropped down from the ceiling, opening its mouth with what was reminiscent of a supersonic scream, soundwaves visible in colours that matched the caves.

Brigade Meouch and Crusader Sung smiled. Almost in unison they whispered, ‘Gammaphibians.’

Crusader Meouch pushed Phobos gently towards the gammaphibian. ‘You said you’ve fought these guys before, right?’

**What, I-**

‘Should be a piece of cake for you.’

**I’m not ready to fight one now!**

Large, padded feet shuffled towards the group.

‘Then what good are you?’

**I’d like to see you try to take it on!**

‘I don’t think now is the time to argue,’ warned Brigade Sung, his gaze unwavering from the gammaphibian. ‘Instead, we should focus on running.’

The gammaphibian leaped high into the air, almost touching the top of the cavern again. As it started to come back down, the sense of impending doom truly began to dawn on them.

Both Brigadiers and Crusaders raced up the stairs.

The giant frog came back down with a  _ crash _ and a  _ crack _ , knocking the group off their feet. Its throat swelled with a deep croak before it began to slowly open its mouth.

Crusader Meouch looked back at the gammaphibian. ‘Fuck-’ he began to scramble to his feet. ‘Everybody get up! Now!’ Everybody looked at Meouch, then to the gammaphibian. ‘We don’t have time to waste! Get the fuck up!’

When they realised what was happening, everybody got up faster, aiding one another where necessary.

The gammaphibian lashed out its tongue.

The group ran towards the crystal once more.

Strive shouted as it gripped onto their ankle.

Brigade Sung looked back. ‘Strive!’

He rushed back down.

Strive held out their arm.

Sung grabbed their hand.

The gammaphibian began to pull the two towards it.

The cold metal hands of Crusader Havve gripped onto Sung’s waist. And onto him, Brigade Meouch. And Phobos - Crusader Sung - Crusader Meouch - and Brigade Havve coming to the front to add more support for Sung and Strive.

The gammaphibian fought to pull them all in, stepping back as they all held on like a game of tug-o-war.

From beneath the gammaphibian came another  _ crack _ .

Brigade Havve looked at Brigade Sung, and Sung looked back. ‘Alright. Ready?’

Havve nodded.

‘Everyone!’ he shouted. ‘On the count of three!

‘One!’

The gammaphibian continued to step back.

‘Two!’

Strive’s grip on Sung’s hand began to slip.

‘Three!’

Everybody pulled as hard as they could.

Strive winced as their arm only continued to stretch.

And with a sound that was like a  _ pop _ , Strive came free from the gammaphibian’s tongue and sent everybody flying towards the crystal.

The gammaphibian screamed again and again came the cracking, this time more violent.

The ground crunched and crumbled, and the gammaphibian fell into the lake beneath - unharmed, from the looks of it, but no longer posing a threat to the group.

Strive breathed a sigh of relief.

‘C’mon,’ breathed Brigade Meouch.

Strive got to their feet, taking a moment longer to stare at the crumbled bridge.

‘So how’s this thing meant to work?’ Asked Crusader Meouch, poking a claw haphazardly at the crystal.

‘Don’t touch i-’ Crusader Sung sighed. ‘Havve will know better than I do, at this point.’ Brigade Havve looked to Sung, who nodded in response. ‘And he thinks we should just touch it.’

Meouch looked at Sung, claw definitely against the crystal, with a brow raised. ‘I’ve been pokin’ it this whole time if you didn’t notice. I’m still here, ain’t I?’

Sung looked back to Havve, who shrugged. ‘I’m inclined to believe that something happened for Havve when we were here before - do you wanna try touching the crystal again?’

Havve looked at Sung for a moment as though to doubt his whole plan, but put two of his hands on the crystal regardless.

‘Just do what you did last time.’ Sung put a hand on the crystal, looked to everybody else, and motioned for them to join him.

The group exchanged glances, but did as they were expected.

One by one, everybody put a hand on the crystal. It wasn’t the most comfortable situation - everybody squished in around each other, hands overlapping in a desperate attempt to touch the crystal, which wasn’t as large as anybody had thought it would’ve been.

Energy began to build up - it was the same kind that Crusader Sung had felt the last time they were in the cave.

It pulled in towards them. Looking around, he knew that everybody else could feel it too.

_ Bang! _

Again, just like before.

Everybody - except Sung and the two Havves, the larger of which had his head hanging down just like before - jumped back.

‘The fuck was that?’ asked Crusader Meouch, tail fluffed up and standing on end.

‘This is - normal, I guess,’ replied Sung. ‘It happened last time.’ Slowly, he removed his hand from the crystal.

**It didn’t work.**

Brigade Havve lifted his head.

‘No, I trust Havve - it has to work. We just need more power. But where…’

As Crusader Sung continued to muse, the two Havves looked to each other, and Crusader Havve looked at Sung.

‘Do you think that would work? ...Well, it’s the only hope we’ve got.’

‘Would what work?’ asked Brigade Meouch.

‘Our two Havve friends here are gonna try to sync up their frequencies.’

‘Is that possible?’

‘What other choice do we have?’ interjected Brigade Sung. ‘If we don’t try this, we don’t have any hope of getting our Phobos back. Come on-’ he put his hand back on the crystal, and everybody else followed suit. ‘If this works, we’ll have little more than a second.’

The Havves remained in a silent stare off. Nobody - not even the Sungs - knew what was going on in their heads.

The energy in the room began to crackle. Whatever could possibly go wrong, they were ready for now. Crusader Meouch was already on edge, his tail still fluffed as he, assumedly, expected the worst.

And despite the electricity in the air, everyone remained tense.

Like a single breath would cause the cavern to crumble around them.

Phobos, especially, barely moved a muscle, like he was carved from stone.

He was relying on this for peace of mind.

More so,  _ everybody _ was relying on this to get their friend back.

It closed in around them, heavy almost as though it had a weight to it. Strive, despite beginning to feel a little claustrophobic, held their breath.

They closed their eyes tight, and tried to not let the pressure get to them.

This time, there was no bang - only a lightness that felt like floating.

Strive opened their eyes, and noticed they were in space.

They were not alone.

Beside them were the Groove Crusaders and Starlight Brigade, save for the two Havves, and in front of them the ships they had piloted a mere week ago - and Brigadier Phobos, drifting towards them.

And behind them was Oblivion, who was even more terrifying this close up.

_ Strive. _

That voice again.

Not Oblivion.

The one that was oddly familiar.

They looked over to see a small light - despite its size, it stood out from the stars, brighter than they were.

Crusader Phobos, with the hand that was not joined to Brigadier Sung’s, reached out for his duplicate.

_ Follow me. _

Strive flashed their eyes towards Crusader Meouch, whose hand was in theirs, and gently let go.

Crusader Phobos grabbed the Brigadier’s arm.

Meouch looked over.

Strive propelled themselves towards the small light.

_ You’re doing well. _

Strive reached out to the light.

Meouch tried to shout out, ‘Strive!’

In a flash, the group disappeared.

Strive grabbed the light and they, too, disappeared.


	14. Dominion

Void.

Brightness.

A sense of unfamiliarity filled them with dread.

The Brigadiers were not here.

The Crusaders were not here.

Breathing fast - hyperventilating, almost.

They called out.

‘Hello?’

_ You’re finally here. _

Strive looked around, eyes wide.

Focused.

Alert.

‘Who’s there?’

‘It’s okay.’ The figure materialised from the light - it did nothing to soothe their nerves. ‘You know I won’t hurt you.’

The one who came to stand before them was none other than… themselves. Taller, older, probably a bit wiser, but there was no denying that this figure could only be Strive.

‘You’re… me,’ was all Strive could muster, barely able to grasp that this must have been how the Brigadiers had felt upon meeting their counterparts. ‘Are you from this universe?’

The other Strive shook their head. ‘I belonged to the Starlight Brigade, just as you do. I know what’s happening - I’ve lived through your experiences, including this one. I know about Oblivion, and I know how to stop it.’

‘You do?’ Strive asked, barely able to contain their excitement. ‘How?’

‘With Dominion.’

‘Dominion? I... don’t know what that is.’

The other Strive smiled. ‘I know you don’t - that’s why I’m going to teach you.

‘Just like Oblivion was created in the Crusaders’ universe, Dominion was created in ours.’ The other Strive closed their eyes, focused, and when they opened them again, they were standing on Ladyworld. Not the barren one Strive had come to know, but the planet which existed in their own universe, overflowing with life and joy.

Here they could see the Starlight Brigade, sans Strive, smiling and laughing and taking advantage of a beautiful day.

Strive jogged towards them. ‘Doctor Sung!’

‘They can’t see you - we’re on a different plane. This is as close as we can get.’ There was a sullen tone to the other Strive’s voice. When they turned back to them, they noticed the matching, sullen expression as they looked on. As the younger Strive looked back to them, they did their best to change this into a smile.

Strive didn’t think it worked very well.

‘Oblivion was created because Commander Meouch and Lord Phobos couldn’t put their differences aside. But here they did - I’m sure you’ve noticed it, too, how much better they get along. As you’ve already guessed, this is why Oblivion was never created. But our universes run parallel, which means-’

‘-instead of Oblivion, we must have something else.’ The other Strive nodded.

‘They didn’t know it, but their bond paved the way for the creation of Dominion.’

The other Strive closed their eyes again. This time, the expanses of space. There were the Brigade ships, including their own, facing off against Oblivion.

The other ships turned back, but Strive charged forwards. ‘That wasn’t my best idea,’ Strive mumbled.

‘On the contrary,’ said their duplicate, ‘we did exactly what we were meant to do.’

Sung’s ship rushed in after Strive, followed by Meouch, Havve, and Phobos. ‘This strengthened bond is where Dominion was created.’

‘But I don’t see anything - I can see Oblivion, but this-’

‘I know you don’t understand.’ The other Strive smiled.

The area turned back to the light they had entered into.

‘We are Dominion.’

Strive could only stare. ‘ _ What? _ ’

‘I couldn’t believe it either, but listen - I need to lend you my power. I will-’ the other Strive looked away, hesitated, then shook their head. ‘Give me your hand.’

Strive did as they were asked.

‘When I give you my power, I won’t be here anymore. You won’t see me again. The rest is up to you.’ The other Strive closed their eyes and began to glow with a familiar light. ‘I know you - no,  _ we _ \- can do this.’

They began to fade, but they looked at peace with this.

The light started to crawl up Strive’s fingers - to their hand, their arm, and slowly enveloped them, until the other Strive was no longer in sight.

_ I believe in us. _

‘We got Phobos back,’ Brigadier Sung panicked as he paced around the Crusader’s ship, ‘but we lost Strive. You know we can’t leave anyone behind, we have to go back-’

‘Doc,’ Brigadier Meouch grabbed Sung by the arms, stopping him in his tracks, and gave him a solemn stare. ‘We can’t keep doing this every time we lose someone, otherwise we’ll be stuck here forever. The Havves need time to recharge, too. I think it’s time to count our losses.’ Meouch huffed. ‘Strive is gone.’

‘But they’re so young,’ Sung refused. ‘They have their whole life ahead of them. We can’t just count them as a casualty, we can’t.’

‘I’ve gotta agree with myself on this one,’ Crusader Meouch spoke up from his place on the floor. ‘I liked the kid too, but not all of us can survive out here. It’s a harsh universe - one of us is gonna get unlucky.’

‘But Strive was-’

A small, bright light materialised, and slowly opened up to a wider circle. From this stepped Strive, who smiled brightly.

Everybody stared. Hesitated - they couldn’t believe their eyes.

‘Strive!’ Sung rushed over, kneeling down and putting his hands on Strive’s shoulders. ‘Are you okay? What happened?’

‘The fuck’d you let go for?’ Crusader Meouch asked, getting to his feet and walking over.

‘I’m sorry,’ apologised Strive. ‘I had to. Something was calling out for me.’

Sung’s smile faded. ‘Again?’

‘It wasn’t Oblivion this time. It was… something else. But this was important - I’m glad I let go.

‘I know how we can defeat Oblivion.’


	15. Meet Your Match

‘You have to trust me.’

‘We’re not going to let you go it alone,’ Brigadier Sung responded sternly. ‘Remember, nobody gets left-’

‘Nobody’s being left behind,’ Strive insisted. ‘Think of it as… something I have to do. Alone.’

**How do you know this is going to work?** Crusader Phobos asked. It was a little harder to tell, but Strive had learnt to see when Phobos was worried.

Strive smiled. ‘This has happened before, and it worked then. There’s no way it can fail now.’

‘What do you mean, it’s happened before?’ Sung asked. ‘Is there something you’re not telling us? What happened to you back there?’

‘Doctor Sung. I’ll be fine - we’re always fine. Everything always works out for us, remember?’

Strive turned and walked to their ship. They took one look back at their friends - new and old - and could feel the tears begin to well up.

They looked away, entering their ship before their emotions could get the better of them.

And, for the first time ever, Strive took off without the Starlight Brigade.

Feelings were innate. There was no more guesswork, no more worries or fears. Everything was laid out before them - they could see two moves ahead, with a little help.

They didn’t know what had become of the other Strive - whether they were still out there, or they had truly vanished forever. No matter what the answer, it felt like the other Strive was still there with them, guiding every movement they made - almost like the decisions were being made for them.

Ladyworld was little more than a pale blue dot when they found the gaping void in the galaxy.

There were so many names one could give to a monstrosity of this size.

Planet eater.

Universe destroyer.

Galaxy ender.

These were only but three names that came to Strive’s mind but, for sake of ease, they stuck with the name they knew better than any other.

Oblivion.

Strive stepped out of their ship. The lack of oxygen did not suffocate them as they would have expected.

But would they have stepped out if they had known it wasn’t safe?

They pushed themselves towards the dark mass.

To Oblivion now, they were little more than a speck. Space dust. So easily could they be consumed by the beast.

But they did not show fear.

_ You’ve come to give yourself up. _

‘Not to the likes of you.’

_ You want to prove yourself a hero to the Starlight Brigade - finally. _

‘They don’t expect me to prove myself. But if I’m the one that has to stop you I don’t care. If I’m deemed a hero, then so be it.’

A bright light began to spread from their body.

And as Strive’s light grew, Oblivion took in more and more stars and it, too, grew larger and larger.

_ It didn’t have to come to this. _

Strive swore they heard the mass laugh, albeit mangled and grotesque.

_ But so be it- _

They did not budge.

_ I’ll take this entire universe with me. _

‘I won’t let you.’

The light around Strive grew stronger and brighter.

‘I can’t let you destroy it!’

The light grew to rival Oblivion’s darkness.

And they could feel the older Strive beside them, within them, leading them every step of the way.

Strive clenched their fists and let out a battle cry.

It was like a supernova blast in the sky.

So far away they were, yet the Brigadiers and Crusaders had to shield their eyes from the resulting explosion.

Not once had they been able to see Strive’s ship, nor Strive themself - nor even Oblivion, though forbid they ever actually saw that thing again.

Yet the light had stood out so clearly - even against the backdrop of the sun in the sky and the clouds that hung with it - that they could see it all the way from ground level on Ladyworld.

**Do you think-**

**-that was them?**

‘I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,’ replied Crusader Sung.

‘Nobody could survive a blast like that,’ observed Brigadier Meouch.

‘What was that, anyway?’ queried Brigadier Sung. ‘Strive’s ship shouldn’t have had the capacity to destroy anything with a blast like that.’

‘Maybe it was Oblivion,’ Crusader Meouch guessed. ‘Would’ve liked to be there when that fucker bit the dust, though.’

‘I don’t think it was,’ Brigadier Sung disagreed. ‘Strive said they knew how to destroy Oblivion, and didn’t want any of us to go with them. It’s obvious - can’t you see?

‘This was a suicide mission from the very start.’


	16. Return

They couldn’t stop staring.

The light was gone - it had been for five minutes.

Yet they stood there, still, mouths agape, unable to comprehend the sacrifice that Strive had made.

Tears welled up in their eyes.

‘Damn it,’ Crusader Sung said, his voice little more than a croak. ‘We would have found something else. Why would they think this was the only way? We  _ always _ find a way. There would have been something, like, uh-’

He felt a hand on his shoulder - that of Brigadier Phobos.

**They wouldn’t have done this if they didn’t feel it was right,** he signed.  **Do you remember? They were afraid of the adventure being over. They probably wanted this as much as we did. What Strive did was brave.**

‘It was fuckin’ foolish,’ growled Crusader Meouch. ‘They coulda fuckin’ told us this was the plan. We coulda talked ‘em outta it.’

‘Once Strive gets an idea in their head they don’t usually let it go,’ said Brigadier Meouch. ‘I don’t think we could’ve convinced them.’

Silence from the Havves was expected, but there was something different in the air - Brigadier Havve’s gaze was turned to the ground, while Crusader Havve had his hand on his counterpart’s shoulder as though to comfort him.

Brigadier Meouch stepped to Brigadier Sung’s side. ‘How you holdin’ up, Doc?’

Within their circle, Sung was known for being the talkative one. But now he had no words; so much ran through his head, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Meouch put his hand on Sung’s shoulder.

At this time, he couldn’t expect him to have any words.

**Now that Oblivion is gone,** signed Brigadier Phobos, **that means our hopes of getting home are gone too, doesn’t it?**

‘There might be something else,’ said Crusader Sung, ‘if we use the time crystal-’

‘-then Oblivion will continue to exist,’ interrupted Brigadier Meouch. ‘Our actions have consequences. Strive sacrifices themselves for us. Without that sacrifice, Oblivion will continue to grow.’

Sung slumped. ‘You’re right. There’s nothing we can do. Strive is gone.’

‘Are you sure?’

Simultaneously, everybody felt their hearts skip a beat.

They looked around.

And behind them stood…

‘Strive!’ Brigadier Sung shouted as he ran up and squeezed his arms around them. ‘You survived, you’re back! And… brighter.’

For the glow that consumed them had not left since their encounter with Oblivion, but had only grown brighter.

‘That’s the second fuckin’ time in a day,’ growled Crusader Meouch as he - and everyone else - walked over.

‘I’m sorry. But I learnt that I’m the only one who could stop Oblivion. I didn’t want you to worry more.’

**We did more than worry,** replied Brigadier Phobos,  **we were** **_grieving_ ** **.**

Strive smiled. ‘Now you know how we felt when you sacrificed yourself.’ They pushed themselves out of Sung’s embrace. ‘But… I can’t stay with you.’

‘But the Starlight Brigade means so much to you,’ argued Sung, in disbelief, ‘if there’s something wrong-’

Strive shook their head. ‘I love being part of the Starlight Brigade - it means everything to me. But I have a higher purpose now. You have to trust me when I say I’ll still be with you. It’ll just be in spirit.’ They smiled, but the tears in their eyes betrayed them.

Sung, though still in disbelief, smiled and nodded. ‘You do what you have to do.’

‘Thank you. Now - I’ll be able to get you back to our own universe. Did you see the explosion before? I’ll place the portal there. You just have to go through it, and you’ll be taken back home.’

Strive stepped away and looked at all of them - Brigadier and Crusader alike - one last time.

‘I’ve enjoyed my time with all of you so much. Thank you for all of these experiences I’ve had alongside you.’

Wiping away the tears, they disappeared in a flash of light before the emotions could overwhelm them.

And a portal appeared in the sky.

‘This is it,’ said Brigadier Meouch.

‘Wish it coulda been under better circumstances,’ Crusader Meouch pondered.

‘We couldn’t have defeated Oblivion without you,’ Crusader Sung said. ‘Thank you.’

Brigadier Sung shook his head. ‘We needed your aid just as much. We should be thanking you.’

**Until next time?** signed Crusader Phobos.

**But we can only hope that something like this doesn’t happen again,** responded Brigadier Phobos.

The Havves, as expected, had no words nor emotion, but the way they looked on at the group and each other said more than words ever could.

‘Let’s not keep everyone waiting, then,’ announced Brigadier Sung, ‘I’m sure the rest of the Brigade has been worried sick about us.’

The four returned to their ships and, onc inside, gave one last wave of goodbye to their Crusader selves.

The Crusaders watched as the ships blasted into the air, and out into space.

And they continued to watch until the ships were nothing more than a speck in their vision, until the portal had finally closed.

After all these years, everything was as it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interuniversal Shift is finally at its end; the Brigadiers have returned to their universe, and the Crusaders can rest easy.
> 
> Thank you to everybody who has kept with me for this journey and reading this fic through all its highs and lows, it means so much to me!
> 
> Don't think that the adventures are over yet - I have another fic which ties in with Interuniversal Shift in the works! You can keep up with it either on Tumblr (ultravioletmeouch) or Twitter (jiggywiiggles).
> 
> Thank you again, and I can't wait for you all to see the next fic set in this universe that I publish - it's gonna be a heart-wrencher! ♥


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